Arsenal go home with the silverware!

Jayne Ludlow with a volley, from a Karen Carney corner, seals the victory with a late winner!
Leeds had the upper hand in the first half. Sue Smith could have scored with a curling free kick, Jayne Ludlow could have also scored though her header crashed off the cross bar along with Rachel Yankey who hit a volley in the box, only to see it go wide.

Heard the highlights on Five Live.

Well done to Arsenal, will be interesting to see what Shlj and Twm make of the game.

Should Leeds have won it??

I was sweating on this result , much relief when it came over the radio that they'd won. I can smell me winnings getting nearer , just two to go now

Well done to the girls in what sounded like terrible conditions.

Smithy please!

Way to go Gunners!!
And Jayne Ludlow yet again a late goal hero!
May she never go to Linkoping or anywhere else

ROFL!

What do you mean two go smithy? How much might you get?

Jayne won't go to Linkoping, too much future at Arsenal. We are the team in the UEFA Cup Final after all

Vic Akers had a surprise in the starting line up as Fleeting was dropped
Byrne Scott Grant Asante Phillip Smith Chapman Ludlow Carney Sanderson Yankey
Subs Fleeting for Sanderson subs not used Spencer Larkin Davison Flaherty.

This was the kind of game when you feel that the first goal will be decisive. Very tight nearly no chances at at all. I think Arsenal had 1 or 2 shot on target and Leeds nothing more than 3. Arsenal had most of the possession and Leeds were playing on the counter attack. They just came to nullify Arsenal threats and did well.
Sanderson had a tough game fighting on her own and when Fleeting came in to replace her she took adavntage of the fact that Sanderson tired down the defenders.
So basically it was attack against defence with Leeds being very fast and dangerous son the counter attack and waiting for a blunder from Arsenal's defence. emma miss kicked a ball but mcarthur shot was soft and not dangerous. Leeds left back should have been sent-off two bookable offences and there was penalty claim for a "foul" on Kelly.
A funny moment was during half time when Sian Gemma and Julie were warming up and Sian missed a header in front of the empty goal from 5 yards

Rating
Byrne 6.5
Scott 6.5
Grant 7
Asante 9.5
Phillip 6.5
Chapman 8
Ludlow 8
Smith 7.5
Carney 7.5
Sanderson 6.5
Yankey 7
Fleeting 7

The pitch was horrible and the weather terrible as well. And I missed my connecting train at Doncaster because this [beep!] unrleiable birtish public transport [beep!] me again. There is a train every 2 hours at that time between Doncaster and Scunthorpe.
I ended up paying 40£ for a taxi that I luckily shared with 3 Norwegian Arsenal supporters who also gave me one of their spare tickets.

That is one thing that you cannot rely on in the UK and that is British Rail trains running on time.
I now make a point of making sure I leave early enough that even if I miss a train, the later train will still get me to the ground on time.

At least you gained a free ticket out of it and didn’t miss any of the action

Well strange to have Norwegian fans turning up but really good.
I know a lot of the Swedish Arsenal supporters club are intending to go to the UEFA Cup Final to cheer our girls on to victory.

We decided it was easier to pick up shlj at Scunthorpe rather than Doncaster, as Donnie can be a bit difficult.
By the time he knew his train would be late there was no real chance of going from Scunthorpe to get him before the game, and wished we'd arranged to meet at Donnie. But were delighted he made it. Why can't the transport services get their act together? As it was a connecting train, surely it should have waited?

At least we got him to Donnie for an earlier train than he would have got - so he obviously got back home a while before we did

I'd expected us all to be getting tickets and be seated together. I'd got my seat when shlj arrived. He'd been given a free ticket to the opposite stand to the one I was in
And Ron was rather fortunate too - he took his camera and big lenses etc and went to the office to ask if he could take his equipment in with him.
They only gave him a free pass for the press box etc.

Ron should be posting some pics here later of the girls getting the trophy.
Poor buggers like me who'd paid were miles away - but he was on the pitch taking photos and chatting to the girls, lucky git

As far as the game went, I felt Arsenal were the better team overall, but not as cohesive as usual, and didn't get as many chances as usual. There was always the constant chance that Leeds would score on a break.
And the lousy weather didn't help

I'm not going to give points per player, but Anita was outstanding, and Emma gave us heart attacks now and then as usual. One of her clearances went all of 15 yards to Rachel MacArthur - nice of her to kick it straight back. They must have thought they were still team-mates

Thanks for the reports Glad everyone got to see the start of the game in one peice even if the transport was tripe

Glad Anita had a good game, puts her in good stead for the WC. Leeds are getting stronger as a team it sounds. Leeds have young players in defence and they held off some of the best in the country for most of the game

Can't wait to see Ron's pics have been hunting around the usual places but they don't seem to have any up yet

I, along with many other observers, expected Arsenal to win by a minimum margin of three goals. With this in mind, I have to give huge credit to the Leeds side for producing such a spirited display.

As I wasn’t able to go to the match I’m relying on the various match reports on the internet, it would seem that the conditions were not conducive for free-flowing football. A great shame for a final watched by a record crowd.

You cannot predict the British weather but playing a showpiece Final on a “poor surface” is hugely disappointing as the FA handpicks the venue.

It seems Arsenal had the better of the opening stages with Ludlow the closest to opening the scoring only for the bar to come to Leeds rescue.

As expected Arsenal dominated possession but Leeds held firm and were not short of opportunities in front of goal themselves.

Leeds appeared to have doubled up on Arsenal’s creative players in an attempt to try to prevent Arsenal getting into any kind of rhythm.

With the game in stalemate, it needed a player to take the game by the scruff of the neck and Kelly Smith was that player.

Kelly seemed to be behind many of Arsenal’s best attacking play but a combination of good goalkeeping and heroic defending prevented Arsenal time and again.

Lianne Sanderson and Jessica Clarke both missed gilt-edged chances for Arsenal and Leeds respectively.

Arsenal needed fresh legs and what better player to bring on than the prolific Julie Fleeting, who had been nursing an injury she had picked up playing for Scotland.

As fulltime approached, Kelly Smith was trying to make things happen in the penalty box only for Leeds to clear the danger momentarily for a corner. The resulting corner was swung in by Rachel Yankey landing at the feet of the Welsh International captain to volley in the winner from all of 6 yards.

As a Welshman, I am immensely proud that Jayne Ludlow got the winning goal. She never gives less than 100 percent in every match and has this great knack of scoring late goals in closely thought encounters.

On what is the twentieth anniversary of the inception of Arsenal Ladies, it is a great start to 2007. Hopefully, the trophy cabinet will have four more trophies to add to the collection namely the UEFA Cup, National Premier League, FA Cup and not forgetting the County Cup.

A special mention to Kazza on picking up her first major trophy of her career. She has not always commanded a regular starting role due to the wealth of attacking talent in the Arsenal ranks but she just kept her head down and produced excellent displays when called upon.

I was glad to see that Vic put the prestigious Gilly Flaherty on the bench. From what I have seen of her, she looks a great talent for the future and this will, no doubt, help in her development being around the team on such an occasion. I’m not biased or anything but I used to speak to her a lot on another website shortly after she joined Arsenal from Millwall Ladies.

From an Arsenal perspective a closely thought final is good because it will stop any chance of overconfidence becoming a factor on the domestic front in the crucial months ahead.

And finally, I personally wish Leeds all the best for the remainder of the season. They have performed well all season and I hope they finish in the runners up position, behind Arsenal in the league.

source: Arsenal.com match report and TheFA.com match report

League cup Final Leeds v Arsenal

Same here, and the photo of her and the others above is by yet another of our countrymen

Great pic, Ron

The first post match quotes from the respective club managers: -

Premier League Cup Final

Rachel MacArthur, Julie Chipchase and Sue smith looking very dejected after game

Nicole Emmanuel and Ciara Grant get to grips

Impressive pictures Ron

Yeah, really nice pics Thanks Ron

I mean they have the league and FA Cup left to win for me to win. I get £250 if the treble is pulled off.