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Camden Sports - by STEVE BARNETT
Published: 14 May 2009

Grant gifts the treble for Vic Akers’s final farewell

Women’s Football
Premier League
Everton 0, Arsenal 1

STRIKER Suzanne Grant hit the winner as Arsenal clinched their sixth successive Women’s Premier League title on Sunday.
The win completed a League, FA Cup and League Cup treble triumph for boss Vic Akers, who is retiring after 22 years.
Grant volleyed in the only goal of the game in the 13th minute and although Everton piled on the pressure, Arsenal hung on to wrap up a nail-biting victory. Akers missed the game as his full-time job as kit man for the Arsenal men’s team meant he was at the Emirates for their match against Chelsea.
But he was able to keep in touch by phone with progress at the Halton Stadium in Widnes, where victory saw his team lift their 32nd major trophy.
Akers, who has had to rebuild his side after losing seven key players in the last 12 months, knew that if hosts Everton won, they would steal the title.
Afterwards he couldn’t hide his delight after leading his team to glory one last time: “This one is massive. It’s probably the highlight of what has been a marvellous 22 years for us,” he told Arsenal’s official website.
“To go to Everton and win under those difficult circumstances is probably one of our greatest achievements.
“You don’t spend 20-odd years of your life devoting yourself to something in an unpaid capacity. It’s a love for me, it’s a personal thing. I’m not walking away – I’ll still be general manager, and we’ll try to improve as many areas as we can.
“The club have been fantastic from day one when I asked David Dein if we could run a ladies team. At that point it was almost an unknown, so for him to agree, that was the start of the ladies football club.
“We need to keep going and hope the club is as successful in the next 20-odd years.”

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