Patience was the key to Chelsea’s fifth-round triumph over Doncaster Rovers Belles in the SSE Women’s FA Cup, according to Blues assistant boss Paul Green.

Despite taking an early lead in the last-16 clash at Kingsmeadow through Ji So-yun, Chelsea were frustrated by the South Yorkshire outfit’s dogged defensive display.

And it wasn’t until Fran Kirby made it 2-0 early in the second half that the floodgates opened, with Emma Hayes’ side eventually running out 6-0 winners to book their place in the quarter-finals.

Drew Spence, a Ramona Bachmann penalty and Erin Cuthbert’s brace completed the rout for the WSL 1 high-flyers.

And Green paid tribute to the strength in depth of the west Londoners, who did not panic despite Neil Redfearn’s Belles putting up stiff resistance in the opening period.

“It was a terrific performance – lots of goals from different players and I thought we really deserved the win and to be in the hat for the next round,” said Green.

“There were some good team goals as well as individual efforts – the Erin and Eni [Aluko] both made a massive impact as substitutes and overall it was a brilliant team performance.

“The second goal was all-important – we did dominate in the first half but while it was only 1-0, Doncaster nearly got back in the game.

“The patience of moving the ball around when Doncaster were making it difficult for us was key – sticking to the game plan too – and I think we ran out worthy winners.

“We’ve shown the strength in depth we’ve got in our squad is second to none in our opinion – we actually had a couple of first-team players in the stands as well.”

Defender Millie Bright turned in a typically powerhouse display at the back for the Blues as the Belles forward line were reduced to feeding off scraps.

And she echoed her coach’s sentiments that the team had to stay cool and calm despite missing several good chances in the opening period to extend their lead earlier than they did.

“At 1-0 or 2-0, there’s always a chance that the other team would get back into it, but I think we showed our professionalism and class to get the goals we deserved in the first half and put the ball in the back of the net,” said the England centre-back.

“It’s about trusting the game plan and I think everyone delivered – it was a great squad performance.

“Wembley is our aim, that’s where it was from the start and that’s where we want to be.

“But we’ll take it game by game, not look too far ahead and we’ll focus on Wednesday now [against Yeovil].”

Tickets are now on sale for the SSE Women’s FA Cup Final on Saturday 5th May at Wembley Stadium connected by EE. For more information about tickets and SSE’s involvement in women’s football visit www.sponsorship.sse.com.