The 2007 FA Women's Cup Final was the 37th final of the

FA Women's Cup The Women's FA Challenge Cup 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 (currently known as the Adobe Women's FA Cup for sponso ...

, England's primary

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

for

women's football Women's football most often refers to: * Women's association football Women's football may also refer to: * Women's gridiron football * Women's Australian rules football * Ladies' Gaelic football * Women's rugby league * Women's rugby union ...

teams. It was the 14th final to be held under the direct control of

the Football Association The Football Association (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 oldest footb ...

(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

Charlton Athletic Charlton Athletic Football Club is a professional association football club based in Charlton, south-east London, England. The team compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system. Their home ground is ...

at the

City Ground The City Ground is a association football, football stadium in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England, on the banks of the River Trent. It has been home to Nottingham Forest F.C., Nottingham Forest since 1898 and has a capacity of 30,455. ...

on 7 May 2007. Arsenal won the game 4–1 to secure their second successive FA Cup triumph and their eight in total. The match was attended by a crowd of 24,529 and was broadcast live on

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's oldest and flagship channel, and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television b ...

Match

Summary

Already winners of the

UEFA Women's Cup The UEFA Women's Champions League, previously called the UEFA Women's Cup (2001–2009), is a European women's association football competition. It involves the top club teams from countries affiliated with the European governing body UEFA. T ...

FA Women's Premier League National Division The FA Women's Premier League National Division (originally WFA National League Premier Division) was a football division in England. From 1991–92 WFA National League Premier Division, 1991 until 2009–10 FA Women's Premier League, 2010, the ...

and the

FA Women's Premier League Cup The FA Women's National League Cup is an annual England, English women's association football, football cup competition, founded in 1991 by the Women's Football Association, Women's Football Association (WFA). The 1991–92 WFA Women's National L ...

, Arsenal, managed by

Vic Akers Victor David Akers, OBE (born 24 August 1946) is an English football manager and former player who was most recently the assistant manager at Boreham Wood. As manager of Arsenal Ladies he became the club's most successful manager of all time w ...

, came into the game as favourites. Meanwhile Charlton Athletic, managed by

Keith Boanas Keith Robert Boanas (born 22 April 1959) is an English football manager. Playing career Boanas has played and coached on the semi-professional circuit, Boanas made three substitute appearances for Tooting & Mitcham United after being appointe ...

, came through a hard fought semi-final against

Blackburn Rovers Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second level of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. Th ...

, with

Natasha Dowie Natasha Khalila Dowie (born 30 June 1988) is an English former Association football, footballer. She represented the England women's national football team at the youth level before making her senior international debut in 2009. Dowie played fo ...

scoring the only goal, to make it to their second final. Charlton Athletic were given the dream start after just two minutes of play, as

Eniola Aluko Eniola Aluko (born 21 February 1987) is a British football executive, football broadcaster and former professional player who played as a winger and striker. Aluko has been a regular broadcaster for live football on ITV, BT Sport, Amazon Prim ...

's low cross was slotted in at the far post by

Katie Holtham Katie Ann Holtham (born 9 April 1986) is an English footballer who last played as a midfielder for Australian W-League club Perth Glory. Holtham's manager at former club Leeds Carnegie, Rick Passmoor, described her as: "strong, athletic and a ...

. Arsenal were level within five minutes, as

Kelly Smith Kelly Jayne Smith (born 29 October 1978) is an English former football forward who spent three spells with FA WSL club Arsenal. After moving to the United States, Smith broke records with Seton Hall University then played professionally with ...

curled home a 25-yard free-kick after being hacked down by Charlton's right-back Maria Bertelli. The Gunners were in front by the quarter hour after winning a free kick near the corner flag:

Jayne Ludlow Jayne Louise Ludlow (born 7 January 1979) is a Welsh football coach and former player. A midfielder, Ludlow played at Arsenal for 13 years, whom she also captained and was the club's all-time top goalscorer when she retired. She represented t ...

was the quickest to get to

Lianne Sanderson Lianne Joan Sanderson (born 3 February 1988) is a current broadcaster and former English professional footballer who played as a forward. She won 50 caps for the England national team. At the international level, Sanderson made her debut for E ...

's near post cross and she steered her shot underneath goalkeeper Toni-Anne Wayne. Ludlow then claimed her second goal in first-half stoppage-time with a 30-yard strike which flew into the top corner of the net. Charlton's best chance of the second half came when Aluko broke away and shot through

Emma Byrne Emma Anne Byrne (born 14 June 1979) is an Irish former footballer who played as a goalkeeper. She played for the Republic of Ireland on a record 134 occasions and served as captain of the team. She spent almost 17 years with Arsenal before joini ...

's legs, but the shot was diverted wide of the post by the goalkeeper's leg. Meanwhile, the Gunners had plenty of chances to further their lead, but the fourth goal came when Smith curled in a shot nine minutes from time, wrapping up a record-equalling eighth FA Cup win.

Details

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:FA Women's Cup

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

2006–07 in English women's football FA Women's Cup Final, 2007 FA Women's Cup Final, 2007 FA Women's Cup Final West Bridgford Football in Nottinghamshire 2000s in Nottinghamshire