Craig Dawson baffled at disallowed England goal

West Brom defender Craig Dawson today admitted he was baffled to have his 'goal' for the England Under-21 team ruled out.

The Baggies centre-back, 23, was today tipped as a future Premier League star performer by Hawthorns team-mate Billy Jones.

And Dawson appeared to have headed England in front in their Euro 2013 opener with Italy in Tel Aviv last night.

But the effort was ruled out after an alleged push by Tottenham defender Steven Caulker and the Azzurri claimed a late 1-0 win courtesy of a Lorenzo Insigne free-kick in the 80th minute.

Dawson said: "I didn't think there was too much wrong with the goal but it's one of those things and the referee has obviously seen something that we didn't.

"His reaction seemed a bit delayed but we realised that it was ruled out."

Coach Stuart Pearce said: "It took a long time to disallow it and I'm not sure what it was for. Someone told me the sixth official saw something.

"Like always, we trust the officials. I can't bleat about that because I thought there was a penalty in the first-half for the Italians.

"The performance was very poor and the best team won the game."

England face Norway in their second match in Group A on Saturday with Pearce admitting his side need to win both of their remaining games to reach the knockout stage.

Defeat last night leaves England bottom of the group after match-day one and in need of a result against Norway in Petah Tikva on Saturday, before taking on hosts Israel next week.

Under-21 boss Pearce said: "The way I look at it now, we are probably in a three-team group – us, Norway and Israel – and they've got the march on us because of the point they've both got.

"Probably, we will have to win both games but that's tournament football, it's unforgiving."

Dawson was, meanwhile, tipped to emerge as a major player in the Baggies' Premier League future.

Jones reckons Dawson is close to making his first-team breakthrough at the Hawthorns after an eye-catching loan spell at Bolton last season.

Jones said: "Premier League teams look at buying the best players from the Championship.

"When 'Daws' went on loan to Bolton, he was probably the best centre-half in the league because he played so well and was so consistent.

"Everyone saw the goals he scored, the clean sheets they were picking up and the wins they were getting. That will give him massive confidence.

"He had never played in the Championship before so, if he's gone in there and done well, he probably thinks 'I can perform well in the Premier League'."