CITY LADIES IN NARROW DEFEAT TO ARSENAL
By Steve Carpenter
Coventry City Ladies FC 0-1 Arsenal Ladies FC
Coventry City Ladies put on an impressive performance despite losing 1-0 at home to Premier League champions Arsenal in a one-off friendly at Bedworth United Football Club.
Despite playing a level lower in the Premier League Northern Division, Coventry City more than matched their opponents in every department, but were eventually undone by Jayne Ludlow's left-footed finish mid-way through the second half.
First Team Coach Paul Cudby said: "I thought we were terrific defensively against the best team in the country. There were lots of positives all over the pitch which we’ll take into our game next week against Aston Villa; it’ll certainly be a tough contest.”
He added: "Arsenal are the biggest team in women’s football and credit to them because they put out their strongest starting eleven and I am delighted that my players were able to test themselves against such a calibre of opposition."
Arsenal's squad list read like a who's who of Ladies football and Laura Harvey's side contained no fewer than eleven full internationals including Wales captain Jayne Ludlow, England captain Faye White and Scotland midfielder Kim Little.
Paul Cudby's side thought they had taken the lead with twelve minutes gone, somewhat against the run of play when Callan Barber converted home a cross from the left, but the goal was disappointingly ruled out because of an earlier offside infringement.
Arsenal responded through Ellen White, but her two goal bound efforts were superbly saved by Coventry City goalkeeper Sue Wood who did her best to keep the score-line level at half-time.
The away side started to dominate proceedings, but despite all of their possession they were struggling to create any clear cut chances, which was largely due to the Sky Blues resilience and the goalkeeping brilliance of Sue Wood in the first half and Netty Manca in the second, who produced several excellent saves.
Laura Harvey's side however did manage to finally break their opponents down in the 70th minute when substitute goalkeeper Netty Manca did well to save an initial shot from an Arsenal corner, but the ball fell to Wales captain Jayne Ludlow who fired home left-footed.
Arsenal continued to press for a second, but again Coventry City refused to throw in the towel and continued to show that they have what it takes to compete against the very best teams in Women's football by not letting Arsenal's international stars extend their advantage