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Substitute Catarina Macario scored three minutes after her second-half introduction to send Chelsea through to the FA Cup semi-finals with a 1-0 victory over Everton at Walton Hall Park.

The United States international was still recovering from an anterior cruciate ligament issue when she signed for the Blues last summer but made an emphatic first impression when she scored on her debut in last week’s Women’s Super League victory over Leicester.

Emma Hayes made six changes from Thursday’s Conti Cup semi-final victory over Manchester City, but Chelsea failed to find an opener in a cagey first half, coming closest with a crossbar-clipping header by Nathalie Bjorn before the centre-back was forced off and replaced by Niamh Charles in the 14th minute.

The Toffees had their chances, Kathrine Kuhl forcing Zecira Musovic into a good save with a sharp effort but could not make anything of a series of set-pieces.

Chelsea wasted their best chance to take the lead before the break when Jelena Cankovic curled wide from a promising position following some good work by Johanna Kaneryd to release the Serbia international.

Macario, one of four second-half substitutions for Chelsea, finally broke the deadlock in the 66th minute when she swept home Aggie Beever-Jones’ cut-back.

Katja Snoeijs was inches away from squaring things up, but Chelsea clung on to keep alive their chances of becoming just the second English side in history tosecure a quadruple, with Arsenal having done so in 2007.

WSL leaders Chelsea, who will find out their FA Cup semi-final opponents in Tuesday morning’s draw, face Arsenal in a crucial league contest at Stamford Bridge on Friday evening, live on Sky.

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