Joe Montemurro was delighted to see Arsenal Women pass the sternest of tests as Louise Quinn’s injury-time header downed Everton to seal a place in the SSE FA Cup final.

Having beaten Manchester City to lift the Continental Tyres Cup last month, Arsenal are gunning for a record 15th Women’s FA Cup title and face Chelsea at Wembley on May 5, after Fran Kirby’s double in their 2-0 win over City.

Danielle Carter’s close-range effort gave Arsenal the lead at Marine FC before the Toffees levelled through a Chloe Kelly penalty in the second half.

But Quinn nodded home a Jordan Nobbs corner late on to secure a victory which left Australian Montemurro beaming.

“I’m very proud. We’ve had a bit of adversity with a few players coming back from international duty as well as having one or two players fatigued,” he said.

“It’s a tight pitch so you’re going to get closed down very quickly. We expected we wouldn’t have much time on the ball. Everton are a very good side and very well organised. The chances we created proved the difference.

“The FA Cup is one of the best tournaments in the world. It will be honour to lead a team at Wembley and we’ll do whatever we can to win that game.

“We continued to play even under pressure. It was difficult but we continued with our style.”

Sunday’s triumph continues the north Londoners’ resurgence under the Australian, who took the reins in November after Pedro Martinez Losa’s three-year spell.

Carter believes it is not down to chance that Montemurro’s arrival has sparked a revival of fortunes.

“I don’t think it’s a coincidence. Joe’s come in and put his ideas across to us and we just tried to implement them in every game and we have,” said the 24-year-old.

“If he’d have been with us at the start of the season who knows where we’d be?

“It’s no secret Arsenal are the most successful women’s side in history in England. We’re not top of the table as it stands but we’re still Arsenal, a team to fear.

“We’ve clawed ourselves back into the running. We’re not out of it yet and we’ll take each game as it comes. We love finals, we love winning trophies and 100 per cent we’re going to go to Wembley and try and win.”

*Tickets are on sale for the SSE Women’s FA Cup Final on May 5 at Wembley Stadium connected by EE. For information visit sponsorship.sse.com.