Italy needed a very late goal to push aside Cyprus and earn their first three points on the road to World Cup 2010.
The current world champions did start well with Antonio Di Natale scoring after just eight minutes.
But the Cypriots, who have been giving several major sides some serious troubles in recent years, levelled the score through Aloneftis twenty minutes later.
The match headed for a draw but the Italians finally managed to avoid dropping valuable points at such an early stage as Di Natale netted his second of the night in stoppage time.
Italy’s main rivals in Group 8 are Ireland and Bulgaria, although the latter only just managed a draw versus Montenegro earlier today.
