EVERTON manager Andy Spence admitted he was deflated to bow out of the SSE Women’s FA Cup in such crushing fashion as Louise Quinn’s injury-time header sank Toffees hearts.

In front of a lively capacity crowd of 1,457 at Marine FC in Crosby, Spence’s charges had fought their way back into their semi-final clash with the Gunners through Chloe Kelly’s coolly taken spot-kick midway through the second half after Danielle Carter slotted home to give the visitors the lead.

But Quinn popped up in added time to nod home Jordan Nobbs’ inswinging corner and ensure it was Arsenal who will take to the hallowed turf on May 5 opposite Chelsea, who beat holders Manchester City 2-0 in their semi-final thanks to Fran Kirby’s double.

Everton more than matched the 14-time winners all over the pitch in Sunday’s encounter and Spence, while gracious in defeat, admitted the manner of the loss was tough to swallow.

“In many respects it’s the worst way to lose as we certainly felt we’d done enough with our second half display to earn the draw after 90 minutes,” he said.

“If anything, we felt we had a bit of momentum going where we could have won it. We knew Arsenal carried a threat from open play as well as set plays.

“I think someone said it looked like women against girls at times in terms of physicality, but our girls were fabulous and they deserve a huge amount of credit.

“Congratulations to Arsenal and I’m sure they’ll go on and win it.”

As well as this run in the SSE Women’s FA Cup, Spence has guided his side to eighth in the FA WSL 1 after promotion last season.

The manager added he believes the players will be more hardened from the experience of the cup run and holds high hopes for their progress in the months and years ahead.

He also reserved a special word of praise for the locals on the terraces who flocked to Crosby in numbers to cheer on the Merseysiders.

“From August we turned full-time and there have been changes at the club over the last 10 months,” he added.

“Now we’re in a position where we’re in semi-finals and progressing week in, week out.

“That’s positive but we need to turn those big performances into big results – we’re a young side and I’m sure that will come given some time.

“The girls are classy in defeat – you might not want to smile for photos or be in the public eye but you have to understand that’s part of what we think the competition stands for and what we at Everton have as part of our values.

“We can’t ignore the fact we’ve had great support – it’s been a pleasure and it’s a shame it’s not going to be Wembley Way for us.

“We’re Liverpudlian people, we’re all daft and if you get a load of daft people together, it tends to generate a noise.

“There was noise – we’re very proud of the fans and I’d like to think they’d want to come back and this will be a team they can get behind in the coming years.”

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.