It took 120 minutes and a penalty shootout, but Everton eventually saw off lower league challengers Charlton Athletic on Sunday in the FA Women’s Cup.
The Toffees will now battle it out with Notts County for a place in the final that, for the first time in the competition’s history, will take place at Wembley.
Everton thought they had snatched victory late in normal time when Ellie Stewart headed in from Danielle Turner’s corner, but plucky Charlton went straight up the other end and scored a dramatic equaliser.
As Addicks’ hearts broke around the ground, Nikita Whinnett was on hand to take the game to extra time following a goalmouth scramble and some poor defending from the hosts.
It was the second round running that Andy Spence’s Everton had to play an extra 30 minutes. “We’ve made things difficult in this competition”, Spence acknowledged, “but the girls have shown a lot of character and a huge amount of desire to stay in the game.”
Charlton, who compete a league below last year’s runners up Everton, had the first real chance when Gemma Shepherd’s 25-yard strike left Blue’s keeper Megan Walsh stranded, before crashing against the crossbar.
The Addicks currently only have an outside chance of winning the Southern Division of the FA Women’s Premier League, but on the day, were more than a match for Everton of the WSL 2, who will need to improve to overcome a strong Notts County team in the semi finals.
“In the first-half we weren’t happy with the way we performed and we came in at half-time knowing we had to put some things right and we did that in the second-half,” said Everton captain Michelle Hinnigan.
Everton had the experience of last year’s cup run to draw on and it told in the penalty shootout.
Charlton’s goalkeeper Megan Lynch had her spot kick saved by her opposite number, before Sam Pittuck’s effort came back off the post.
Magill had the honour of taking the final penalty and duly converted. Everton are now the only side from outside the WSL 1 left in the competition.
Two of the favourites for the trophy, Manchester City and Chelsea, were drawn against each other in the other semi-final tie.
