Umeå rue lack of luck in London

Umeå dominance
Alex Scott's late goal in the first leg proved decisive as Arsenal held on in a return dominated in large parts by the visitors from Sweden, who hit the frame of the goal twice in the second half and forced goalkeeper Emma Byrne into a number of impressive saves. "It's really disappointing," said Umeå captain Karolina Westberg. "The goal just didn't want to go in. We had a lot of chances to score but sometimes it's just not your lucky day. Even after we hit the bar we still had time and we continued to play so I don't think we gave up at any time, but Arsenal are a very good team. They are very physical, good players and they played a good match as well."

Westberg proud
The 28-year-old defender, capped 116 times by Sweden and a cornerstone of her club side's impressive run to the final, praised her side's efforts despite the defeat. "I'm proud of my team-mates today because we really fought from the first minute to the last and with a little luck I thought the goal was going to come, but it didn't," she said. Fellow defender Anna Paulson was equally frustrated. She said: "We had many chances but unfortunately we didn't score and they scored at our home ground, so that's the way it goes sometimes. There wasn't much more we could have done, it just wasn't our day today. But we'll be back next season."

'Better team'
Meanwhile, striker Hanna Ljungberg, who recovered from a knock to start the match at Borehamwood was confident the Swedish champions would turn the tie around. "I thought we had the game," she said. "We were the better team in both finals but they scored and we didn't. I thought that we played a good game today, especially in the second half and I don't know how many times we hit the bar and the post but the ball just didn't want to go in." Ljungberg, a veteran of Umeå’s two UEFA Women's Cup successes – in 2003 and 2004 – was dismissive of the claim that her side could have done no more to mount a comeback. "Yes, we could have scored. We were a bit stressed in the first half but the second half we just ran and ran. They got tired and we kept on going, but we still didn't score."