Arsenal Ladies are out of the Uefa Women's Cup after losing
their Quarter-Final second leg 3-1 at Frankfurt on Saturday.
The Gunners took an early lead but the German champions were in
front by half time and extended their lead 10 minutes into the
second half.
Injuries to Jayne Ludlow and captain Faye White didn't help
the Ladies' cause and a late penalty miss effectively ended
their resistance.
Vic Akers' side had forced a highly-creditable 1-1 draw in
the first leg at Barnet FC last week, but the manager was not in
Germany to lead his side due to first-team duties at West Bromwich
Albion.
In his absence, first team coach and Academy Director Fred
Donnelly took over the reins and watched the Gunners go a goal up
through Ciara Grant after 11 minutes.
The match had begun with both sides looking lively in the
opening exchanges, but it was the Republic of Ireland international
who put Arsenal in the driving seat following good work by Kelly
Smith.
England star Smith, who was nominated for the Fifa Women's
World Player 2005 award last week, found Lianne Sanderson on the
edge of the Frankfurt penalty area. The England Under-19
international in turn found Grant with a neat pass and the Irish
captain did the rest.
However Frankfurt levelled on 20 minutes when Renate Lingor
scored with a penalty after Rachel McArthur had felled Brigit Prinz
in the area. The former Bristol City midfielder was adjudged to
have pulled the German forward's shirt and the referee pointed
to the spot.
Frankfurt, bolstered by Lingor's equaliser after the early
shock of conceding a goal, now had the initiative and nearly edged
ahead soon after drawing level.
Prinz was fouled by White and Lingor's resulting free-kick
was headed wide by Kerstin Garefrekes with the goal at her
mercy.
Arsenal survived temporarily, but when Jayne Ludlow sustained an
injury following a clash of heads with Steffi Jones and was forced
out of the game, things went from bad to worse for them.
Garefrekes made amends for her earlier miss by scoring
Frankfurt's second. Unmarked on the edge of the Arsenal penalty
area, she fired an unstoppable shot into the top corner, giving
Emma Byrne in the visitors' goal no chance.
Just after half time, Garefrekes was involved again as the
Germans almost scored a third. Collecting a pass from Prinz,
Garefrekes sent an inviting delivery across the Arsenal goal but,
fortunately for the Gunners, nobody was on hand to convert.
In the 55th minute Sandra Smisek virtually assured
Frankfurt's passage through to the Semi-Final. Having already
lost Ludlow with a gashed head, Arsenal then had captain White
stretchered off with a twisted knee.
To their credit, Arsenal refused to lie down and, in stoppage
time, Smith was tripped and Grant had the chance to reduce the
arrears from the penalty spot. Unfortunately keeper Marleen Wissing
pulled off a great save.
Arsenal leave the competition with their heads held high despite
the 4-2 aggregate defeat and stand-in manager Donnelly was full of
praise for both sides.
"Congratulations to Frankfurt. They created chances and
played well," he said.
"At 1-0 up we had a good chance for the second [goal] and
that would have made a difference. The penalty let them back into
the game and we had a poor start to the second half.
"Jayne Ludlow was a driving force for us and we didn't
come to terms with the game in the period after she went off. We
missed her.
"I'm proud of the team and what they have done, but I
wish Frankfurt all the best, they are a great side."
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