Catarina Macario’s dream delayed start to her Blues career continued with another rapid goal, having come on in the second half for her second appearance. That was enough to decide Sunday lunchtime’s finely balanced tie at a damp Walton Hall Park.

In a first half of very limited chances, Nathalie Bjorn headed against the crossbar early on before being lost to injury, and Jelena Cankovic wasted the best chance just before the whistle for the break.

Half-time tweaks improved the Chelsea performance and although Zecira Musovic did very well to touch an Everton free-kick onto the bar, it was soon after that Macario broke the deadlock from close range, following quality creative play from Aggie Beever-Jones.

There was just one further scare before the end for the Blues defence, who as they did at Manchester City midweek, kept a clean sheet to secure consecutive 1-0 cup-tie wins.

The draw for the Adobe Women’s FA Cup semi-finals will take place live on BBC Radio’s 5 Live Breakfast at 8.20am on Tuesday.

Tight first-half

Chelsea had reached this stage of the tournament with victories in two London derbies – against West Ham and Crystal Palace. Everton had recorded big wins at Aston Villa and Nottingham Forest in the previous rounds. When these two sides met in the WSL this season, on both occasions it ended in a 3-0 win to Emma Hayes’s side. This would prove more testing.

For the third match-up, our manager made six changes to the side that defeated Manchester City on Thursday to reach the Conti Cup final.

It was one of those players who came into the team, Bjorn, who hit the woodwork inside the first 10 minutes. Playing against the side she left in January, the Swede’s powerful header from a corner clipped the top of the crossbar.

However, the centre-back’s game was soon over – forced off by an early injury which meant a rare rest for Niamh Charles was a short one. Jess Carter, who began the game at left-back, moved across to the centre of defence as her fellow Lioness came on.

On 17 minutes, Zecira Musovic made her first save to keep out a deflected Kathrine Kuhl shot as Chelsea missed the moment to clear our lines.

It began a spell of play with the home side looking the more settled. However, Everton failed to test the Chelsea goalkeeper again and around the half-hour mark, the Blues began to take back control.

Chance comes late

Similar to the Toffees previously though, we struggled to turn possession into attempts on goal, as deliveries from out wide did not find team-mates. Carter hooked a bouncing ball over the Everton bar when one half-chance fell her way and then moments before half-time came a very good opportunity.

It was made by Johanna Rytting Kaneryd with a run round the back of the opposition defence on our right. Cankovic took a touch but then curled her shot wide when very well placed. Frustration for the Blues.

Chelsea pinned Everton back at the start of the second half. Beever-Jones, who had been wide-left before the break, was more central and closer to Kirby, who moving out wide sent a ball in that Erin Cuthbert scuffed into arms of the Everton keeper. The Blues captain was now playing further forward.

The continuing ebb and flow of this game served up two shots by Everton – one straight at Musovic and one wide.

Letting the Cat off the bench

Then just past the hour-mark, the woodwork count was levelled. Carter had conceded a free-kick almost 30 yards out and Elise Stenevik hit it very sweetly. Musovic deserves plenty of credit for diverting the ball onto the bar.

Instantly, three substitutions were made – including Macario. It took her six minutes to make a goalscoring impact a week ago at Leicester. Today in Liverpool it was just three!

Beever-Jones had a big hand in the goal with a run that skipped past Everton skipper Megan Finnigan. She squared the ball and Macario had a straightforward task in sweeping it home.

With 10 minutes to go, Everton wasted one golden chance to equalise when Katja Snoeijs could only tickle a low cross wide, and with that the Toffees’ hopes faded away.

What it means

Chelea are through to the FA Cup semi-finals in our quest to win this trophy for a fourth consecutive year. The ties will be played the weekend of 13/14 April.

Leicester, Man United and Tottenham are the other semi-finalists.

What’s next?

After two cup matches it is back to the WSL title race on Friday and it is a big match at Stamford Bridge. Chelsea, the current league leaders, take on third-place Arsenal with a 7pm kick-off. Click for tickets

Chelsea Musovic; Perisset, Nusken, Bjorn (Charles 14), Carter; Cuthbert (c) (Hamano 79), Ingle (Leupolz 63); Rytting Kaneryd, Cankovic (James 63), Beever-Jones; Kirby (Macario 63)
Unused subs Hampton, Buchanan, Lawrence, Reiten.
Scorer Macario 66
Booked Carter 62

Everton Brosnan; Galli, Vanhaevermaet, Finnigan (c), Stenevik, Wheeler, Bennison (Bissell 84), Kuhl (Hope 72), Snoeijs (Dale 84), Payne (Madsen 72), Piemonte,
Unused subs Hart, Hobson, Wilding, Duggan
Booked Payne 45+2

Referee Abigail Byrne