Emma Hayes described Magdalena Eriksson’s own goal in added time as a “cruel” way to crash out of the FA Cup and hand Manchester City a Wembley date with West Ham. Chelsea had dominated the edgy encounter but a late City resurgence knocked out the holders and kept alive hopes of a domestic treble.

“What can you say to a player?” said Hayes of Eriksson, who left the pitch in tears. “It’s a cruel way for a game to end in any circumstances, but I never felt like my team got out of second gear today. I thought we were dominant throughout. The game after the international break is always played at a slower tempo for both teams, because players are humans and they take time to recover, but when Erin Cuthbert’s shot hits the post and dribbles along the line, probably much in the same way Reading had 100 chances and didn’t win today. If your name’s on the cup, your name’s on the cup.”

The City manager, Nick Cushing, praised his full backs after a high-pressure game. “You always want to play well here and at times we played well and at times we looked nervous,” he said.

“When you’re playing big games and competing for leagues and cups and Champions Leagues you have to be composed and soak up pressure on the rack. You look at Steph Houghton and Jen Beattie, with those type of players you can sort of cope on the rack.”

Fran Kirby returned to the Chelsea starting XI having sat out England’s friendlies against Canada and Spain to protect a knee, while the influential midfielder Ji So-yun was on the bench having travelled from South Korea.

If the fitness of Kirby was a concern last week, she showed no signs of ill-ease. Indeed, most of Chelsea’s best play flowed through the skilful forward.

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Manchester City came from two goals down to take a point when these two met here in the league and they knocked Chelsea out of the Continental Cup at the semi-final stage before going on to lift the trophy.

This time Chelsea had the edge of a cagey first half. Cuthbert had the first chance, skipping into the area from the left before shooting straight at Karen Bardsley in the third minute.

Then City threatened, Caroline Weir playing in Nikita Parris who laid off to Georgia Stanway but Sophie Ingle stifled the shot.

From there Chelsea looked the more settled side. Pressing the usually solid City defence high up the pitch, they started to force errors and leave openings. And in the 13th minute Ramona Bachmann found Kirby through the middle but the England international’s shot was turned away by Bardsley for a corner.

With Weir drifting in from the right it left space for Cuthbert and Kirby to exploit – much in the way Jess Carter (on the bench here) did to great effect in the first half of their league meeting here.

City came out with purpose in the second half. A Stanway strike forced a corner that Jen Beattie was able to get on the end of, but Chelsea scraped clear.

With less than 20 minutes remaining Chelsea upped the pressure, a Cuthbert header bouncing off the bar before Kirby found herself through on the left but Houghton and Beattie recovered well and when Kirby turned and looked up the space was gone.

Then Cuthbert struck the inside of the post and the ball trickled teasingly across goal and out for a corner. City, perhaps sensing the good fortune of still being well in the tie, began to find some space in the middle. Stanway, freed down the wing, tested Ann-Katrin Berger, who saved at the second time of asking. Tessa Wullaert then had a shot blocked before Houghton had an effort deflected wide.

With extra time looking likely, City pounced. A Demi Stokes cross was whipped in and Eriksson agonisingly turned the ball into her own net.

“When it’s Chelsea you’re never going to dominate the game,” Cushing said. “I’m proud that it’s the sixth straight season that we’re at the table for everything come April. And then there’s a bit of luck involved, strategic thinking, pushing the players in difficult games. This year we’ve won the Conti Cup, we’ve qualified for the Champions League and we’ve got the opportunity to win and FA Cup.”