Phil Jagielka had to overcome penalty nerves before slotting home the winning spot-kick.
The defender was Everton’s fifth kicker and capitalised on two saves made by keeper Tim Howard to win the semi-final clash with Man Utd.
Jagielka also exorcised personal demons after a miss in the Uefa Cup tie with Fiorentina last season.
After the game, he told evertonTV: “It was fantastic that the boys before me and T-How (Howard) put me into that position and thankfully this time it worked to our advantage.
“I wasn’t too sure about taking a penalty after last time but there weren’t too many specialists left on the pitch so I said I would go last. Thankfully it was the glory goal.”
Howard took plenty of plaudits after saving United’s first two penalties.
“It’s about time Tim started saving some penalties!” joked Jagielka. “He’s been getting close in the last few years but he was fantastic and it couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy.
“I think they had a few experienced lads in their squad who have taken penalties before, but thankfully we got the luck.”
The win sets up a clash with Chelsea on 30 May, and Jags is predicting another amazing day for the travelling Evertonians.
“It will be fantastic,” he beamed. “The amount of noise that the fans made today was absolutely frightening. If the winner was decided on fans’ noise then we would have won hands down.
“It’s a big game against Chelsea now on Wednesday, they keep coming thick and fast.”
