It was drama all the way as we finally toppled London City Lionesses in a penalty shoot-out in the fifth round to book a quarter-final tie at Chelsea in the Women's FA Cup on Monday evening.
We looked out of the competition, 2-1 down with the clock ticking into the fifth minute of added time at Bromley's Hayes Lane. Typical of the FA Cup though, there was a late, late twist as we kept a corner alive, Bethany England headed at goal and Teyah Goldie clearly moved her left arm towards the ball to block on the line. Referee Ryan Atkin pointed to the spot and England made no mistake to take the tie into extra time.
It stayed 2-2 and incredibly, the first 17 penalties of the shoot-out were all converted. Lize Kop, who made point-blank saves in normal time before firing in our sixth penalty, then got down to her right to keep out Wassa Sangare and secure the shoot out 9-8.
That means we'll face Chelsea, the holders, in the last eight - ties played over the weekend of 4/5 April.
Both teams made three changes - most notable for us Molly Bartrip back in central defence in place of Clare Hunt and Cathinka Tandberg making her first start since late November, with Bethany England on the bench. Bartrip wore the captain's armband.
We were in control of the opening exchanges, Olivia Holdt fired over on six minutes and a minute later, we opened the scoring. Tandberg won possession and found Holdt and she delivered a fine pass inside Jana Fernandez for Vinberg, who beat Elene Lete to slide home.
The home side grew into the game, Toko Koga did well to clear Frey Godfrey's cross and then Signe Gaupset slid in to deny Nikita Parris after Sanni Frassi bundled her way into the box. Fernandez then did well to nod away from Julie Blaksted attacking Tandberg's header from Maika Hamano's cross.
Lize Kop made a superb point-blank save from Parris' header on 41 minutes, then comfortably gathered Godfrey's 20 yarder and the half ended with Holdt just off target from Vinberg's cross.
We were back on the front foot at the start of the second half as Tandberg had two efforts blocked in a scramble from Eveliina Summanen's free-kick and as we recycled play, Gaupset was also denied by a big block from Sangare. Tandberg then had a goal ruled out for offside as she followed in a cross/shot from Vinberg.
Then everything changed. Home boss Eder Maestre brought on Luca Corrales and Danielle van de Donk on 57 minutes and within just over a minute, the pair combined to equalise, van de Donk crossing for Corrales to angle home. A minute later, Fernandez picked the ball up in space 30 yards out, took aim and fired home for 2-1.
Martin Ho responded by bringing on England, Amanda Nilden and Lenna Gunning-Williams on 65 minutes, but the next chance fell to the Lionesses with Kop getting her angles right to deny Corrales from 10 yards.
Matilda Vinberg and Olga Ahtinen also entered the fray but we were now struggling to carve out chances. Lionesses dealt with our corners and crosses - until the last seconds of added time.
With Kop joining the attack, we kept a corner alive, England headed at goal and Goldie moved her arm towards the ball to clear off the line. It gave Ryan Atkin little option but to point to the spot and England made no mistake, drilling low into the corner as Lete dived the right way.
Both teams had half-chances in extra time. In the first period, Kop was there again to save from Isabel Goodwin, Amanda Nilden's low curler from 20 yards was taken by Lete and Marlou Marcetto headed wide. Tandberg was off target with a tricky chance at the start of the second period and Koga did well to touch away Isabel Goodwin's cross.
So, into the shoot-out. Incredibly, the first 17 penalties were successful - England, Tandberg, Amanda Nilden, Gaupset, Koga, Kop, Ahtinen, Gunning-Williams and Hanna Wijk all on target for us. Finally Kop, who got her hand to Partido and Marcetto's attempts, kept out Sangare down to her right - cue the celebrations!
