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Spurs asserted their dominance early as Matilda Vinberg scored the opener inside seven minutes, sliding a composed finish past Elene Lete after a precision through-ball from Olivia Holdt. The visitors controlled much of the first half, though goalkeeper Lize Kop was forced into a stunning point-blank save from Nikita Parris to keep the lead intact at the interval. However, the game was turned on its head during a frantic two-minute spell after the restart.

Eder Maestre’s tactical tweaks proved inspired as substitutes Luca Corrales and Danielle van de Donk combined for a 58th-minute equaliser, before Jana Fernandez unleashed a spectacular 30-yard thunderbolt just 60 seconds later to put the hosts ahead. Spurs looked shell-shocked and appeared to be heading for a disappointing exit as the clock ticked deep into stoppage time, struggling to find any rhythm against a compact and energetic Lionesses defensive unit.

With their cup hopes hanging by a thread in the fifth minute of added time, Tottenham threw everything forward, including goalkeeper Kop. The pressure finally told when a goalbound header from Bethany England was blocked by the arm of Teyah Goldie on the line. Referee Ryan Atkin showed no hesitation in pointing to the spot, and England, the ultimate big-game player, showed nerves of steel to drill the ball home and force another 30 minutes of action.

Spurs boss Martin Ho admitted his side were not at their vintage best but praised the resilience of his squad to navigate a potential banana skin against the newly-promoted WSL side.

Speaking to the official Spurs website, Ho said: "I know the performance levels we can get to and we were nowhere near our best today, but we had lots of big moments with the ball. Then defensively, I thought we were brilliant, we had to ride our luck at times like they did too. But hopefully we just could have capitalised on a few more of those chances within the game. However, an FA Cup game under the lights that puts you through to a quarter-final and for the neutral, it was probably brilliant to see it go to penalties.”

He later reflected on the tension of the shootout, stating: "When it goes to penalties, I never watch them anyway, I think it's a lottery - it's probably the cruellest part of football. But, [it was] outstanding bravery and courage from the players to step up and take the penalties because, at big moments, it's a lot of pressure."

The victory sets up a tantalising last-eight showdown against holders Chelsea, scheduled for April 5. The Spurs boss now turns his attention to a revenge mission against the Blues, adding: "We've had a good game against them recently where we didn't come out on top, so we want to make sure we put that right."

The task remains a overwhelmingly daunting for the North London side, as Tottenham have never beaten Chelsea in 18 attempts. Their most recent encounter earlier this month in the FA WSL ended in a 2-0 victory for the Blues, a result Ho will be desperate to overturn in the cup.

Spurs asserted their dominance early as Matilda Vinberg scored the opener inside seven minutes, sliding a composed finish past Elene Lete after a precision through-ball from Olivia Holdt. The visitors controlled much of the first half, though goalkeeper Lize Kop was forced into a stunning point-blank save from Nikita Parris to keep the lead intact at the interval. However, the game was turned on its head during a frantic two-minute spell after the restart.

Eder Maestre’s tactical tweaks proved inspired as substitutes Luca Corrales and Danielle van de Donk combined for a 58th-minute equaliser, before Jana Fernandez unleashed a spectacular 30-yard thunderbolt just 60 seconds later to put the hosts ahead. Spurs looked shell-shocked and appeared to be heading for a disappointing exit as the clock ticked deep into stoppage time, struggling to find any rhythm against a compact and energetic Lionesses defensive unit.

With their cup hopes hanging by a thread in the fifth minute of added time, Tottenham threw everything forward, including goalkeeper Kop. The pressure finally told when a goalbound header from Bethany England was blocked by the arm of Teyah Goldie on the line. Referee Ryan Atkin showed no hesitation in pointing to the spot, and England, the ultimate big-game player, showed nerves of steel to drill the ball home and force another 30 minutes of action.

Spurs boss Martin Ho admitted his side were not at their vintage best but praised the resilience of his squad to navigate a potential banana skin against the newly-promoted WSL side.

Speaking to the official Spurs website, Ho said: "I know the performance levels we can get to and we were nowhere near our best today, but we had lots of big moments with the ball. Then defensively, I thought we were brilliant, we had to ride our luck at times like they did too. But hopefully we just could have capitalised on a few more of those chances within the game. However, an FA Cup game under the lights that puts you through to a quarter-final and for the neutral, it was probably brilliant to see it go to penalties.”

He later reflected on the tension of the shootout, stating: "When it goes to penalties, I never watch them anyway, I think it's a lottery - it's probably the cruellest part of football. But, [it was] outstanding bravery and courage from the players to step up and take the penalties because, at big moments, it's a lot of pressure."

The victory sets up a tantalising last-eight showdown against holders Chelsea, scheduled for April 5. The Spurs boss now turns his attention to a revenge mission against the Blues, adding: "We've had a good game against them recently where we didn't come out on top, so we want to make sure we put that right."

The task remains a overwhelmingly daunting for the North London side, as Tottenham have never beaten Chelsea in 18 attempts. Their most recent encounter earlier this month in the FA WSL ended in a 2-0 victory for the Blues, a result Ho will be desperate to overturn in the cup.

Sunday's game was not without incident, with the match officials in the spotlight as the game was twice held up due to problems with their technology. According to the Daily Mail, the issues were down to "frequency interference and equipment issues." The first delay lasted six minutes and saw assistant referee Blake Antrobus struggling with frequency interference. The problem meant that the match referee and his officials could not communicate with the VAR team.

The second delay occurred at the start of the second half and saw the other assistant referee, Eddie Smart, hit with another technical problem. Tech providers Hawkeye are now set to send a full report to the PGMOL about the problems that occurred during the game.

The stoppages drew plenty of criticism from those watching. Sky Sports pundit Gary Neville said: "The game can't be stopped for two minutes because a linesman can't communicate with a referee. We did 100 years without it so we can play here. The whole crowd is now waiting because of an IT issue. This is absolute nonsense. One of the most important games of the season, fantastic start to it, quick, and we are now two or three minutes stopped and they will have to warm up again, reset, an absolute shambles."

Arteta also shared his thoughts on the situation: "Every time we are late out of the dressing room, we get huge fines, so I said to them, who's going to get this fine because that's six, seven, eight, nine minutes, so someone is going to get a big fine. I'm sure that everyone is going to look at Sky, Sky probably to the Premier League, the Premier League to Sky, so, yeah, we've got one in the bag now."

The delays may have been frustrating for Arteta but the Arsenal boss was pleased with his side's win and feels it could be a turning point in their season.

He said after the game: "I am very, very proud and very happy, not for today, but what happened in the last three days because we said: OK, let's love the players when they need it the most. But as well, sometimes the coaches and the staff, we need some love as well. We need some people around them with positivity, drive and who stand up next to you when we need them. And it's been really, really good to work with them in the last few days.

"It feels like we've shown what we are made of but then you have to show it again and again and again, because if you have to just analyse how you feel after every game, I mean it's a massive rollercoaster and it's not sustainable. So, we've done great today, I think we're all very proud of the manner in which we won the game, not only the way that we performed and we know what it means to us. We go again."

Sunday's game was not without incident, with the match officials in the spotlight as the game was twice held up due to problems with their technology. According to the Daily Mail, the issues were down to "frequency interference and equipment issues." The first delay lasted six minutes and saw assistant referee Blake Antrobus struggling with frequency interference. The problem meant that the match referee and his officials could not communicate with the VAR team.

The second delay occurred at the start of the second half and saw the other assistant referee, Eddie Smart, hit with another technical problem. Tech providers Hawkeye are now set to send a full report to the PGMOL about the problems that occurred during the game.

The stoppages drew plenty of criticism from those watching. Sky Sports pundit Gary Neville said: "The game can't be stopped for two minutes because a linesman can't communicate with a referee. We did 100 years without it so we can play here. The whole crowd is now waiting because of an IT issue. This is absolute nonsense. One of the most important games of the season, fantastic start to it, quick, and we are now two or three minutes stopped and they will have to warm up again, reset, an absolute shambles."

Arteta also shared his thoughts on the situation: "Every time we are late out of the dressing room, we get huge fines, so I said to them, who's going to get this fine because that's six, seven, eight, nine minutes, so someone is going to get a big fine. I'm sure that everyone is going to look at Sky, Sky probably to the Premier League, the Premier League to Sky, so, yeah, we've got one in the bag now."

The delays may have been frustrating for Arteta but the Arsenal boss was pleased with his side's win and feels it could be a turning point in their season.

He said after the game: "I am very, very proud and very happy, not for today, but what happened in the last three days because we said: OK, let's love the players when they need it the most. But as well, sometimes the coaches and the staff, we need some love as well. We need some people around them with positivity, drive and who stand up next to you when we need them. And it's been really, really good to work with them in the last few days.

"It feels like we've shown what we are made of but then you have to show it again and again and again, because if you have to just analyse how you feel after every game, I mean it's a massive rollercoaster and it's not sustainable. So, we've done great today, I think we're all very proud of the manner in which we won the game, not only the way that we performed and we know what it means to us. We go again."

Sunday's game was not without incident, with the match officials in the spotlight as the game was twice held up due to problems with their technology. According to the Daily Mail, the issues were down to "frequency interference and equipment issues." The first delay lasted six minutes and saw assistant referee Blake Antrobus struggling with frequency interference. The problem meant that the match referee and his officials could not communicate with the VAR team.

The second delay occurred at the start of the second half and saw the other assistant referee, Eddie Smart, hit with another technical problem. Tech providers Hawkeye are now set to send a full report to the PGMOL about the problems that occurred during the game.

The stoppages drew plenty of criticism from those watching. Sky Sports pundit Gary Neville said: "The game can't be stopped for two minutes because a linesman can't communicate with a referee. We did 100 years without it so we can play here. The whole crowd is now waiting because of an IT issue. This is absolute nonsense. One of the most important games of the season, fantastic start to it, quick, and we are now two or three minutes stopped and they will have to warm up again, reset, an absolute shambles."

Arteta also shared his thoughts on the situation: "Every time we are late out of the dressing room, we get huge fines, so I said to them, who's going to get this fine because that's six, seven, eight, nine minutes, so someone is going to get a big fine. I'm sure that everyone is going to look at Sky, Sky probably to the Premier League, the Premier League to Sky, so, yeah, we've got one in the bag now."

The delays may have been frustrating for Arteta but the Arsenal boss was pleased with his side's win and feels it could be a turning point in their season.

He said after the game: "I am very, very proud and very happy, not for today, but what happened in the last three days because we said: OK, let's love the players when they need it the most. But as well, sometimes the coaches and the staff, we need some love as well. We need some people around them with positivity, drive and who stand up next to you when we need them. And it's been really, really good to work with them in the last few days.

"It feels like we've shown what we are made of but then you have to show it again and again and again, because if you have to just analyse how you feel after every game, I mean it's a massive rollercoaster and it's not sustainable. So, we've done great today, I think we're all very proud of the manner in which we won the game, not only the way that we performed and we know what it means to us. We go again."