Arsenal 1 (Smith 72)
Everton 0
Moss Rose, Macclesfield
Attendance 1,494
ARSENAL WIN YET AGAIN AS COMMUNITY SHIELD ERA ENDS
A late goal by England star Kelly Smith won the 2008 FA Community Shield for Arsenal, who in a pivotal year for the trophy (it would not be contested again until 2020, in the WSL era) not only lifted it for the third time in succession but also chalked up their seventh appearance – and fourth victory – in the eight years that the annual season-opener had been played since its inception in 2000.
The odd year out in the sequence of Shield matches up to that point was the previous campaign, when, with England preparing for the 2007 World Cup finals in China, the FA decided to drop the fixture due to the amount of the national team’s players who would have been involved.
Co-incidentally, as with 2008, the 2007 game would have been contested by Arsenal and Everton, the Gunners having done the double of Premier League and FA Cup while the Toffees had finished runners-up in the League. Importantly for England’s World Cup preparations, no fewer than nine Arsenal players and six from Everton were in the 21-player World Cup squad.
Smith scored four goals as England reached the quarter-finals, where they lost to the USA, and 11 months later she was to kick-start her club team’s 2008/09 season with the only goal of a tightly contested Community Shield meeting at Macclesfield Town’s Moss Rose stadium.
The Gunners went into the game having again done the League and FA Cup double, while Everton had once more finished as League runners-up. But the Toffees had won the Premier League Cup, satisfyingly beating Arsenal 1-0 in the final.
And they started the Shield encounter well, left winger Jo Potter and midfielder Emily Westwood both having shots saved by Arsenal goalkeeper Emma Byrne in the early stages.
At the other end Smith and striker Gemma Davison went close in a first half that saw plenty of good build-up play but nothing decisive enough in either penalty area.
It was the same story as the second period unfolded, Everton midfielder Fara Williams firing a 20-yard shot wide and then Arsenal captain Jayne Ludlow fluffing a close range header.
But the deadlock was finally broken 18 minutes from time. Everton goalkeeper Rachel Brown dived at the feet of Karen Carney to deny the right winger a goal, but as the ball broke loose Smith guided a neat lob into the empty net.
That winning goal was to be the last that would be scored in an FA Women’s Community Shield match contested by teams from the Premier League. When the fixture was revived 12 years later it was a Women’s Super League event, Chelsea beating Manchester 2-0 at Wembley Stadium.
Arsenal (4-2-1-3): Byrne; A. Scott, 3 Bassett, Tracey, Flaherty; Ludlow (c), Grant; Smith (Little 75); Carney, Davison, Yankey,
Substitutes not used: Spencer, Ross, Bird, White.
Everton (4-1-4-1): Brown; Easton, Johnson, Unitt, Evans; Williams (c); Duggan (Christiansen 90), J. Scott, Westwood (Hinnigan 81), Potter (Boyle 64); Dowie.
Substitutes not used: Hill, Cleaver-Kane
Referee: Ms S. Ihringova
