The 2008 FA Women's Cup Final was the 38th final of the

FA Women's Cup The Women's FA Challenge Cup Competition is the top annual cup tournament for women's clubs in English football. Founded in 1970, it has been named the WFA Cup, FA Women's Cup and now Women's FA Cup (Vitality Women's FA Cup for sponsorship reas ...

, England's primary

cup competition A single-elimination, knockout, or sudden death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of each match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final matc ...

for women's football teams. It was the 15th final to be held under the direct control of

the Football Association The Football Association (also known as The FA) is the Sports governing body, governing body of association football in England and the Crown Dependencies of Jersey, Bailiwick of Guernsey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. Formed in 1863, it is the ...

(FA). The final was contested between

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

and

Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire in England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of England's football league system, and plays its home matches at Elland Road S ...

at the

City Ground The City Ground is a football stadium in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England, on the banks of the River Trent. It has been home to Nottingham Forest Football Club since 1898 and has a capacity of 30,445. The stadium was a venue when E ...

on 5 May 2008. It was Arsenal's third successive FA Cup triumph, their ninth in total and their 29th major trophy in just 16 years. Leeds made their second final appearance, after losing 5–0 to Arsenal in 2006. The match was attended by a crowd of 24,582.

Match

Summary

Having just sealed their fifth successive

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

title and having suffered only one defeat in more than two years of domestic football, Arsenal came into the game as favourites. Arsenal dominated from start to finish, with

Smith Smith may refer to: People * Metalsmith, or simply smith, a craftsman fashioning tools or works of art out of various metals * Smith (given name) * Smith (surname), a family name originating in England, Scotland and Ireland ** List of people wi ...

and

Sanderson Sanderson may refer to: Places * Sanderson, Florida, a town in the United States * Sanderson, Texas, a census-designated place in the United States * Sanderson, West Virginia, an unincorporated community in the United States * Sanderson, Northern ...

both drawing saves from

Carly Telford Carly Mitchell Telford (born 7 July 1987) is an English footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for San Diego Wave and the England national team. Club career Telford joined Leeds United Ladies in 2007 from relegated club Sunderland. In May of t ...

in the opening 10 minutes.

Karen Carney Karen Julia Carney (born 1 August 1987) is an English sports journalist and former professional footballer who played as a winger and midfielder. Carney has been a regular broadcaster for live football on Sky Sports and Amazon Prime, includi ...

was also denied from close range on the quarter-hour mark, while Alex Scott was thwarted by a double save by Telford after Smith had put her through with a defence-splitting pass midway through the first half. Leeds'

Amanda Barr Amanda Jayne Maslin-Barr (born 2 May 1982) is an English football striker She scored ten goals in 37 appearances for the England women's national football team after making her international debut in 2001. Barr spearheaded the England attack a ...

scored after 32 minutes, but her lob was ruled out for off-side. Eight minutes after the restart, striker Kelly Smith scored the opener with a 12-yard shot. Six minutes later,

Ludlow Ludlow () is a market town in Shropshire, England. The town is significant in the history of the Welsh Marches and in relation to Wales. It is located south of Shrewsbury and north of Hereford, on the A49 road which bypasses the town. The t ...

poked home a 59th-minute effort from close range and within 60 seconds Lianne Sanderson's deflected effort flew into the net as well. Leeds' right-winger Jessica Clarke scored with 20 minutes remaining, but Arsenal quickly regained the initiative and almost extended their lead on 72 minutes when Ludlow's header was cleared off the line by Amanda Barr, and

Julie Fleeting Julie Fleeting MBE (born 18 December 1980), whose married name is Julie Stewart, is a Scottish former footballer who played as a forward. She spent nine years at English club Arsenal and was the first Scot to play as a full-time professional in ...

also came close with 10 minutes to go. Smith tapped in her second goal seven minutes from time after Fleeting's shot had rebounded off a post.

Details

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:FA Women's Cup

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

2007–08 in English women's football FA Women's Cup Final, 2008 FA Women's Cup Final