Arsenal make Uefa Cup progress

By Tony Leighton

Arsenal have reached the Women's Uefa Cup quarter-finals for the seventh time in seven attempts.

The Gunners progressed by finishing runners-up in their second-round tournament in France despite losing 3-0 to Olympique Lyonnais on Tuesday night.

The defeat was the first of the season for Vic Akers' side.

Arsenal will face Swedish champions Umea, the team they beat to win the Euro title in 2007, over two legs in their quarter-final in November.

Akers said: "It was disappointing to lose against Lyon, but the important thing was to get into the last eight again and we've done that.

"The tie against Umea will be tough and they'll be out for revenge for the 2007 final, but we toughed it out on that occasion and we'll aim to do the same next month."

The Gunners had opened the tournament with a Kim Little-inspired 7-2 victory over Swiss champions FC Zurich.

Scotland international Little hit a hat-trick while fellow midfielder Jayne Ludlow bagged a brace and there was a goal apiece for strikers Gemma Davison and Kelly Smith.

Two days later, Austrian champions SV Neulengbach were beaten 6-0 in an extremely physical encounter, with England right winger Karen Carney scoring twice.

Little and Davison were again on target and the other goals came from striker Julie Fleeting and central defender Yvonne Tracy.

But against Lyon, who they lost to in last season's quarter-final, Arsenal were second-best after fielding a weakened team whose absentees included England striker Kelly Smith.

Akers said: "The Austrians kicked Kelly out of contention for this game and on the night Lyon had more quality in their group than we did."