I've been covering women's football for many years now and I always enjoy the opportunity to attend a match involving the country's most successful team, namely Arsenal Ladies.

The female Gunners use Boreham Wood FC's Broughinge Road as their home ground. Today they entertained Sunderland in the FA Women's Cup after an unsuccessful attempt at staging the game last week. Conditions had improved significantly since the cold snap and a low winter sun illuminated proceedings throughout. The match was a re-run of last year's Final which Arsenal won by the odd goal in three.

Arsenal midfielder Katie Chapman is set to follow in the footsteps of her England teammates Karen Carney, Alex Scott and Kelly Smith when she makes the move across the Atlantic to join the Chicago Red Stars in February. I have never seen her give less than the proverbial 100% for any of her clubs and today was no exception. This powerful header, pouncing on a rebound from the crossbar, put the Gunners 1-0 up...



It was clear that the strike meant a lot to Chapman who is playing out her last few games in the famous red and white. Over the years, Arsenal have been able to bring in and develop numerous youngsters to continue their incredible record but you have to wonder who will follow in her footsteps...



Kim Little sealed the victory in extra-time with a three goal burst and looked pleased with her performance as she returned to her own half after completing her hat-trick. Scottish international Kim heads the Arsenal goalscoring chart by a country mile this season...



Some beautiful light as well today. With a 1pm kick-off, there was the chance to shoot straight into the sun (a technique that I enjoy using as much as I can) and here's a frame of defender Jayne Ludlow on the burst for the Gooners with the turf flying in her wake...



Arsenal will meet the winner of the Leeds vs Watford tie at Boreham Wood in the next round. Further images available here: http://bit.ly/5QhhAN

Labels: Arsenal, Boreham Wood, FA Cup, Football, Ladies, Sunderland, Women