The 17-year-old Birmingham City winger, belying her tender years, struck with the coolest of finishes as play moved into stoppage time and only a minute after Laura Kalmari’s equaliser had seemed to have snatched a draw for the Finns.

"Fantastic!" exclaimed Powell. "Karen was calm, composed, she picked her spot and you could see as soon as the ball left her boot that it was going in. She’s just a young kid, but that proves her quality and what a bright prospect she is."

Carney’s youthful exuberance was a key element in her match-winning contribution, though she did not enjoy the stoppage time that remained after her goal.

"With the score at 2-1 then 2-2 I kept looking at the (time-clock) board," she said, "and I was thinking ‘give me the ball, I want it.

"When my chance came I thought ‘just get it on target.’ If you spoon it over you've got no hope but if you get it on target, even with two players on the line it can go in or bounce back to a team-mate.

"When I scored I got cramp, but Hope shouted ‘you've got one minute left.’ And that one minute felt like ten!"

Carney’s anxiety during those nail-biting final moments of the match was understandable, though for much of the game England as a team had lacked the composure and confidence that was evident so often during their run of nine wins from 10 matches in the build-up to the tournament.

"I put it down to nerves," said Powell. "It was a big day, a big occasion, lots of fans and a great atmosphere, and it was certainly a nervy start for us.

"It wasn’t our best performance by a long shot, and the players knew in themselves that if we judge it against other games we’ve had recently this doesn’t match a lot of them.

"The nice thing is though, we didn’t play particularly well for whatever reason but we won the game and I’m pleased with that.

"We showed the resilience to come back and go for it in the last minute, and although it wasn’t our best performance we got the three points and that was the main thing."

The three points meant that England ended the tournament’s opening day as Group A leaders, Sweden and Denmark having drawn 1-1 in the earlier match - though Powell’s players did not know that result before playing their own match.

Captain Faye White said: "I only found out the other score after we came in after our game, but I don't think it would've made any difference to the girls' approach. To be honest, we just knew we had to win our game.

"If you'd said before that you wouldn't be able to play your best and yet end up winning and top of the group, you'd have taken it - especially to come back after the disappointment of conceding two goals and still win. That’s credit to all the girls and it speaks volumes for the belief within the squad."

England now head to Blackburn for Wednesday’s second group game, against Denmark, and White and her colleagues will be hoping for similar support to the tremendous backing they got from the crowd at the City of Manchester Stadium, where a new European attendance record - 29,092 - was set for a competitive women’s fixture.

National Coach Powell said: "I’d like to say thank you to the crowd, they were fantastic.

"It was a bit of a pain," she added jokingly, "because when I was trying to speak to the players they couldn’t hear me because of the noise. But I can’t complain - the fans were brilliant!"