SHARP-SHOOTING GUNNERS COMPLETE LEAGUE CUP HAT-TRICK
Arsenal 4 (Britton, Spacey, og, Churchman)
Doncaster Belles 0
WFA National League Cup final
Abbey Stadium, Cambridge
13 November 1994
The 1993-94 season ran out of time to fit in the League Cup final – but when it was held in November 1994, Arsenal wasted no time at all as they grabbed the initiative from the off and romped to a convincing 4-0 victory over a Doncaster Belles team that had memorably achieved a 1993-94 League and FA Cup double.
Goals were always likely in the final – staged at Cambridge United’s Abbey Stadium – after both teams had stormed through the previous four rounds with huge victories, Arsenal recording a 25-2 aggregate scoreline and Donny doing even better with a 29-1 aggregate.
But it was perhaps surprising that the Gunners would win so convincingly against their arch rivals to record a third successive League Cup final triumph.
Against an injury-hit Belles side, however, victory looked likely from the moment midfielder Sammy Britton shot them ahead from a Marieanne Spacey free-kick.
Striker Spacey doubled the lead before the interval, the England international – signed from Wimbledon at the start of the 1993/94 campaign – thumping a ferocious 30-yard shot into the back of the Doncaster net. The goal took the prolific forward’s tally to 10 in the five rounds of the League Cup competition.
Victory was virtually assured after the break when Spacey’s strike partner Jo Churchman had a shot deflected into the net for an own goal. And it was Churchman who made absolutely certain that the Gunners would complete their League Cup hat-trick with a superbly hit 20-yard cross shot.
“We could have scored more goals,” said Arsenal manager Vic Akers, for whom the win was particularly fitting as it came on the Cambridge United ground where he had turned out as a full back for four years of his playing career.
“I thought it would be closer in a Cup final,” added Akers, “but we were every bit as convincing as the scoreline suggests. Doncaster never found any rhythm. We imposed ourselves from the start and played a lot of good football.”
RESULTS
First Round
31/10/1993
Bronte 0-4 Sheffield Wednesday
Doncaster Belles 10-0 Maidstone Tigresses
Epsom & Ewell 1-2 Bromley Borough
Horsham 0-6 Arsenal
Ipswich Town 1-4 Knowsley United
Langford 3-5 Hemel Hempstead
Leasowe Pacific 2-1 Cowgate Kestrels
Millwall Lionesses 4-0 Oxford United
Nottingham Argyle 1-7 Red Star Southampton
Villa Aztecs 0-5 Wolverhampton Wanderers
Wembley 5-0 Hassocks
No first round results for these teams:
Brighton & Hove
Kidderminster Harriers
Town & County
Wimbledon
Stanton Rangers
Second Round
28/11/1993
Brighton & Hove Albion 2-6 Leasowe Pacific
Doncaster Belles 9-0 Sheffield Wednesday
Hemel Hempstead 3-4 Wimbledon
Kidderminster Harriers 0-6 Arsenal
Knowsley United 3-1 Wembley
Town & County 1-3 Red Star Southampton
2/1/1994
Wolverhampton Wanderers 1-3 Bromley Borough
13/3/1994
Millwall Lionesses 6-5 Stanton Rangers AET
Quarter-finals
30/1/1994
Arsenal 9-1 Red Star Southampton
Bromley Borough 1-5 Knowsley United
Leasowe Pacific 2-2 Wimbledon [Leasowe win 3-0 on pens]
27/3/1994
Millwall Lionesses 1-6 Doncaster Belles
Semi-finals
10/4/1994
Arsenal 4-1 Leasowe Pacific
4/5/1994
Knowsley United 0-4 Doncaster Belles
Final
13/11/1994
Arsenal 4-0 Doncaster Belles
