Arsenal secure Kim-manding victory over Belles

Arsenal Ladies continued their recovery from a home defeat to Birmingham City last week with a convincing 3-0 win over Doncaster Rovers Belles on Saturday.

 

England international Ellen White opened the scoring after just seven minutes, before two second half goals from Kim Little sealed all three points for the Gunners to keep pressure on Birmingham.

 

The first half was a typically tight affair, but both teams had early chances. Belles captain Katie Holtham’s goal-bound effort on five minutes was deflected into the arms of Arsenal keeper Emma Byrne after good work down the left from Precious Hamilton.

 

The deadlock was broken just two minutes later after good work from Danielle Cater forced the Belles to concede a corner. Yankey supplied a superb ball into the box, and White rose above everyone to power a header past Helen Alderson.

 

Despite going behind, the Belles were still in the game in the first half, and were able to restrict Arsenal’s fluid attack to have chances, without ever really threatening Byrne when they had their own chances going forward.

 

Arsenal almost doubled their lead on 25 minutes as Carter was alone in the six yard box, but skewed the ball wide, and had her blushes spared by an offside flag.

 

Kylla Sjoman and Aine O’Gorman combined well down the left for the Belles, but despite getting into space, the lack of attacking options in the box meant several crosses went to waste as Arsenal had little trouble clearing the ball to safety.

 

The Belles had their best chance to equalise just after the half hour mark as a fantastic pass from Hamilton on the right sent O’Gorman through on goal, but her firm shot was well blocked by Byrne’s legs.

 

It was almost déjà vu time for the Belles as White came inches away from doubling the Arsenal lead just before the break, but she couldn’t make contact with Yankey’s cross.

 

The last good chance of the first half fell to Hamilton who tried to force a breakthrough with a shot from distance, but her effort flew wide of Byrne’s right-hand post.

 

The Belles also had the first chance of the second half with Vicky Exley setting up O’Gorman, but the Irish international’s low shot was well saved by compatriot Byrne.

 

Unhappy with their first half performance, Arsenal immediately responded as Byrne launched the ball into the Belles half. The Belles failed to deal with the ball, and Little pounced on the loose ball outside of the box to drive a half-volley past a helpless Alderson.

 

Looking to kill the game off, Arsenal continued to press, and came close to a third just minutes later as good work from Little in midfield sent White away, but she couldn’t stretch far enough to get a shot goalwards.

 

Hamilton continued to get half chances for the Belles, and came close again just before the hour mark, but her angled drive was inches wide of the post.

 

Arsenal ramped up the pressure and looked like scoring on every attack, and twice came close to scoring in quick succession just a minute later as first substitute Julie Fleeting, and then captain Katie Chapman, asked questions of Alderson.

 

Little came close to adding a second on 65 minutes as she sprang on to a clever ball through by Jordan Nobbs, but after beating Anderson to the ball as the goalkeeper rushed out, her shot crashed off the crossbar and was scrambled away.

 

Any hope the Belles had of securing a second straight home win were blown away just three minutes later as Fleeting headed a Yankey cross against the bar, but Little was in the perfect spot to head into an empty net for her second of the game.

 

With victory secured with 20 minutes to go, Arsenal slowed up, allowing Belles to get back into the game, but despite an injection of fresh legs from the bench, the Belles still failed to create a clear goal-scoring opportunity as Arsenal kept up their run of keeping a clean sheet in every WSL win.

 

Belles manager John Buckley insisted the second goal changed the course of the match, in a repeat of their 4-1 defeat at home to Chelsea last month, as his players lost the belief that they could win.

 

“I do believe that the second goal changed the game,” he said. “It was like a child’s goal you’d see in a park. The first centre back came in underneath it, then the second shouted, came in, and should have headed it. There’s no point in playing there if you’re not going to do that.

 

“The second goal disappointed me. I thought for the next 20-25 minutes they [Arsenal] ran the show. In the last 10-15 minutes we picked it up, and even with the opportunities we created, we never got the bodies forward, and that’s something you can mark down to fitness.

 

“The reason obviously it was a bad goal was because people’s heads dropped, we gave possession away, if you constantly give possession away you know you’re in trouble. When we had control of the ball, and we were brave with the ball, we created things, and that is a mindset.

 

“We do have a lot of young players, but that’s a learning curve for them.”

 

Despite a comfortable win, Arsenal coach Laura Harvey was far from happy with her team’s first-half performance.

 

“Second half I was more pleased," she said. "First half we were sloppy, and lethargic, and we looked like we’d had six games in 14 days, which we have. Second half we actually got the ball down, and started playing more, and Kim Little showed her ability with her goals.”

 

With the first half of the league crammed into just four weeks, and some players trekking around the country to get to training and games, as well as working or studying, they can be forgiven for running out of steam during games.

 

Arsenal now return to Hertfordshire to prepare for Thursday’s trip to Filton to take on Bristol Academy in a warm-up of the FA Women’s Cup Final, while Doncaster prepare for their third home game in eight days as they host a winless Everton Ladies in the second televised game of the season on ESPN on the same day before the season stops until the end of July for the Women's World Cup in Germany.

 

Teams:

 

Doncaster Rovers Belles: Alderson, Karlsson, Sjoman, Turner, Williams (Cunningham 83), Exley (Owen 78), Holtham (c), Lipka, O’Gorman, Hamilton, Hall (Cox 69).

 

Subs Not Used: Earps (GK), Bright.

 

Arsenal: Byrne, Beattie (Houghton 57), Fahey, Grant, Flaherty, Carter (Fleeting 50), Little, Chapman(c) (Coombs 84), Nobbs, Yankey, E. White

 

Subs Not Used: Spencer (GK), Tracy.

 

Goals: White 7, Little 47, 68.

 

Attendance: 424.

Referee: GP Johnson, Assistants: A Murphy and J Key.