Leeds United were first handed a home tie against Cardiff City, where they walked away comfortable 4–0 victors with a brace from Karen Burke as well as a goal each for Susan Smith and Jessica Wright.[6]
A second round home tie against Barnet saw Karen Burke repeat her brace to give Leeds a 2–0 victory.[7]
The ensuing home quarter-final against Millwall proved somewhat more difficult, but goals from Karen Burke and Susan Smith saw Leeds walk away 2–1 victors.[8]
Leeds faced Charlton Athletic away in the semi-final and took the lead through a Lucy Ward header, before the hosts drew level before half-time courtesy of Gemma Ritchie. Charlton took the lead in the 56th minute with a strike from Natasha Dowie before Leeds drew level in the 75th minute through Nicole Emmanuel. The game progressed to extra time but saw no more goals, leading to a penalty shootout. Emmanuel scored the winning penalty for Leeds to finish their route to the final.[9]
Arsenal faced a second round home tie against Birmingham City, running out 3–0 victors by way of a Julie Fleeting brace and a goal from Gemma Davison.[11]
Facing London rivals Chelsea in the semi-final at home, Julie Fleeting scored twice in the opening 17 minutes, before Ciara Grant scored Arsenal's third, with Julie Fleeting completing her hat-trick in the 65th minute, to give Arsenal a 4–1 victory, overcoming Chelsea's only goal from former Arsenal youth player Ellen White in the 75th minute to send themselves to the final.[9]
Match
Team selection
Arsenal captain Faye White missed the game with injury, passing the captain's armband to Jayne Ludlow.[13]
Summary
The match kicked off at 14:30 in front of a crowd of 3,688.[14] Leeds took an early upper hand in a relatively even first half, but neither Leeds's Rachel McArthur or Arsenal's Jayne Ludlow could finish early chances. Ludlow struck the bar twice, and McArthur was unable to pounce on a poor clearance from Emma Byrne. Leeds substitute Jessica Clarke nearly provided Arsenal's Anita Asante a chance for goal with a misplaced backheel before both Kelly Smith and Karen Carney saw efforts cleared off the line. Arsenal eventually found the winning goal in the second minute of stoppage time, after a corner from Carney found Ludlow for a late volley to secure Arsenal's 9th competition victory.[14]
