May 1, 2006

Arsenal on cruise control as they overwhelm Leeds to win the 2006 England FA Cup Final

by Colin A. Aldis

Arsenal 5 Leeds United 0
Monday, May 1, 2006
Millwall AFC, The New Den, South-East London
Attendance 13, 490
Player of the match Lianne Sanderson

Scoring
Arsenal Ward, Lucy (own goal) 3rd. minute
Arsenal Fleeting, Julie ,34th.
Arsenal Yankey, Rachel, 35th.
Arsenal Smith, Kelly, 73rd.
Arsenal Sanderson, Lianne ,77th.

Arsenal
Byrne, Emma (GK)
Scott, Alex (Daniels, Cori, 84)
Phillip, Mary (McArthur, Rachel, 78)
White, Faye -Captain
Champ, Leanne
Asante, Anita
Ludlow, Jane (Grant, Ciara 73 min)
Smith, Kelly
Yankey, Rachel
Sanderson, Lianne
Fleeting, Julie
Manager Vic Akers

Leeds United
Faye, Gemma (GK)
Cook, Mel (Walton, Sophie, 53)
Ward, Lucy
Haigh, Nat
Culvin, Alex
Burke, Karen
Preston, Natalie -Captain(Owen, Sarah,86)
Emmanuel, Nicole
Smith, Sue
Walker, Karen (Panasar, Tanya, 86)
Clarke, Jess
Manager Julie Chipchase

Commentary
In the 36th final of the FA Cup it was Arsenal, 6 times winners of the cup and recent
winners of the FA Premier League, who proved to be far too strong for Leeds United
who were appearing in their first FA Cup final.
This 5-0 win for the 'gunners' meant they have now won the big three domestic trophies, League, League Cup and FA Cup, 22 times. It is only European glory that has eluded them since Vic Akers started the club in 1987. later in 2006 they will compete in the UEFA Cup again.

Kirsty Pealling who has struggled with her fitness recently, has been there throughout most of those glorious times as one of the stalwart players. She now looks likely to retire, and was the first to receive her winners medal today as she helped lift the cup with captain Faye White.

It was rather a sad day for another England stalwart, Karen Walker, who had moved from Doncaster Belles to Leeds with manager Julie Chipchase. She has also decided to retire. Amazingly this was her 12th final, but with so many winner’s medals and the top goalscorer (44) for her country, she has many great memories.

Match report

Leeds needed a good start to stand any chance of winning but conceded an early goal. A superb in-swinging corner by Rachel Yankey was headed home by Lucy Ward, sadly into her own net.

Arsenal dominated much of the play and Lianne Sanderson, who had played for England Under-19 on Saturday in Romania, broke away and sent the ball to Julie Fleeting who neatly placed it passed her Scotland team-mate keeper Gemma Faye into the left corner of the net.. Not long after Rachel Yankey floated in a free kick from the right, and Gemma Faye who had moved out expecting a cross flicked the ball off her fingers into the net for 3-0. Arsenal continued to create many more chances, but it was a foul on Rachel Yankey that led to a penalty which allowed Kelly Smith playing her FA Cup final, to make it 4-0.

Lianne Sanderson was already on her way to being named player of the match when she made certain of the honour by scoring goal number five by blocking a clearance by Alex Culvin, and speeding off to slot a low shot under the Leeds keeper. She was awarded a bottle of champagne, which will be a minor consolation for a summer off caused by the England youth National Team losses by the odd goal to Denmark and Switzerland respectively to miss out on a trip to both the UEFA and World finals.