Arsenal 2, London City Lionesses 0.

London City Lionesses bow out of the Adobe Women’s FA Cup with their heads held high after a 2-0 defeat to Arsenal on Sunday afternoon.

After goals from Laia Codina and Stina Blackstenius, the Gunners progressed into the next round of the cup in the chilly conditions at Meadow Park.

In the opening stages, both sides were cautious, measuring up the opposition and settling into a rhythm. It was the home side who had the first chance, in the 11th minute, when there was a mix up in the London City penalty area, before Kumagai cleared the ball to safety.

After a quarter of an hour, London City had some chances of their own, with Rofiat Imuran causing trouble down the left-hand side. She had a cross destined for Izzy Goodwin blocked, and after the ball was recycled, Grace Neville crossed in from the right wing, only for it to be slightly too high for Goodwin to meet it.

Sofia Jakobsson came closest to scoring in the first half for the Pride, curling a delicious effort just wide of the post. The move was created by a nice pass from Saki Kumagai out wide to Imuran, who threaded it into the path of Jakobsson.

London City’s momentum was short-lived, when Laia Codina opened the scoring for the WSL outfit in the 32nd minute. She popped up at the back post to head the ball over everyone and it nestled into the far corner.

The Pride fought back, with 38 minutes on the clock, Kosovare Asllani curled an inch-perfect cross into the six-yard box, but Sofia Jakobsson couldn’t direct it on target.

The North-London side started the second half strongly, and Emily Orman was called into action within the first minute of the restart, blocking an effort from Frida Maanum, who got in-behind the LCL defence.

Emily Orman was busy after the interval. Her best stop of the afternoon was to deny Kyra Cooney-Cross. She hit a rocket destined for the top corner, but Orman, at full stretch, got a strong hand to it.

The hosts doubled their lead in the 82nd minute. Stina Blackstenius slotted the ball into an empty net after Orman could only parry away Maanum’s shot.

London City’s only other chance was for Chantelle Boye-Hlorkah in the 95th minute. She had a free kick in a dangerous position, and it was whiskers away from sneaking under the crossbar and in.

After a convincing 4-0 win at home to Gwalia United, and a ruthless performance at Craven Cottage, putting five past Fulham, our FA Cup journey came to an end in the fifth round as the Gunners proved too difficult to overcome.

Jocelyn Prêcheur was proud of his team’s performance: “We know that the gap is huge between our project at London City in comparison to a Champions League club last Arsenal.

“It was a good opportunity for us to compete with such a good team like Arsenal.

“I’m proud of my players on the pitch, I thought we defended well. It’s a defeat, but our team is improving, and our players are improving. The experienced players in midfield helped us bring stability today.

“The road will be long, there’s a lot to improve, but I’m proud of us today.”

The boss now focuses his attention on the league: “I believe in my players, promotion is clearly what we want. We want to be promoted as fast as possible, but we will take it game by game. Now it’s about how we respond.”

Our next league fixture on Sunday 16th February, as we host Sunderland at Hayes Lane.

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We hope to see you there, as we will need all the support we can to get us over the line at the end of the season.

Final Four - Tickets

Teamsheet: Orman, Neville (Wilde 54'), Goldie, Brougham, Campbell (Fitzgerald 85'), Imuran, Roddar (Mengyu 85'), Kumagai, Jakobsson, Goodwin (Boye-Hlorkah 45'), Asllani (Meyong, 78').

Who was your POTM?

• 32. Orman
• 8. Kumagai
• 25. Imuran
• 5. Goldie