Graphic: how the shoot-out unfolded

If romance was not welcome aboard the bus that transported a depleted Manchester United squad to Wembley yesterday, it had certainly made its presence felt by the end of a nerve-shredding afternoon, carrying Everton to the FA Cup Final on a wave of emotional fervour and leaving the overriding impression that the right team had won to face Chelsea on May 30.

It came down to the lottery of a penalty shoot-out, in which Everton’s players managed to hold nerves that few of them probably realised they had, but ultimately it felt like a triumph of will for the Merseyside club and their long-suffering supporters.

There is a world of difference between wanting victory, as United’s players did, and yearning for it, like their opponents, and, as Phil Jagielka banged the decisive penalty past Ben Foster, sparking euphoric celebrations among the hordes of Everton fans, it was impossible to escape the feeling that justice had been done.

Sir Alex Ferguson will take issue with that, arguing the toss over the penalty that his team appeared to have been wrongly denied when Jagielka tripped Danny Welbeck midway through the second half, but the United manager ceded the right to too much sympathy when he chose to field a weaker lineup than he had sent out in most of the Carling Cup matches this season. With Edwin van der Sar, Michael Carrick, Cristiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney left in Manchester and Patrice Evra and Dimitar Berbatov only substitutes, Ferguson left the distinct impression that he and United had bigger fish to fry.

Contrast this with the buoyant scenes among the Everton contingent – players, coaching staff, officials and supporters – at the end and it was not hard to side with the winners. David Moyes deserves a shot at glory for everything he has done in his seven years in charge of the club and so do individuals such as Jagielka, Joleon Lescott and Tim Cahill as well as Tim Howard and Phil Neville, the former United players, and indeed Bill Kenwright, the chairman.

As for their supporters, who were presumably looking for the Twin Towers on the horizon when they headed towards Wembley, who could argue that they did not deserve a return visit after the way they roared their team across the finishing line yesterday?

There was certainly relief among the emotions experienced by the Evertonians at the end. Under normal circumstances they would have been underdogs against a team of United’s calibre, but, by the time word reached Moyes and the Everton camp late on Friday that Rooney and several others would not be playing, a degree of anxiety set in. “In a way there was a bigger expectation on Everton to win,” Moyes said. “But we deserve this. When you’ve beaten Liverpool, Aston Villa, Middlesbrough and Manchester United, as well as Macclesfield on a cold January day, you deserve to get through to the final.”

In some ways, this was even harder than the gruelling victory over Liverpool, which was settled by Dan Gosling in the final minutes of extra-time in a replay at Goodison Park. As stoutly as Jagielka and Lescott defended yesterday, as much as Neville and Cahill toiled and Steven Pienaar flitted around trying to engineer a breakthrough, Everton struggled to create a clear chance. United’s youngsters, after a testing start, were acquitting themselves well, doing everything they could to justify Ferguson’s extraordinary show of faith.What is certain is that, however comfortable Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic were against Louis Saha and Marouane Fellaini, the Everton central-defensive pairing of Jagielka and Lescott were not troubled by Federico Macheda, starting his first game for United, and a demoralised Carlos Tévez. The pick of United’s attacking players was Welbeck, who, after a slow start, grew in confidence, twice cutting in from the left-hand side and hitting shots that had Howard in a flap.

Welbeck was involved in the game’s biggest controversy, getting behind Jagielka in the 68th minute and seemingly having his legs kicked from under him as he bore down on Howard. Mike Riley, whom Moyes had alleged beforehand was a United supporter, waved the penalty appeals away. Ferguson, on the touchline, went apoplectic.

United were the better team in the second period, but they had run out of legs and ideas by half-time. The introduction of Berbatov at the start of extra-time did nothing to improve matters and it was the Bulgaria forward, £30.75 million worth of genius wrapped in layers of lethargy, who set the tone for the penalty shoot-out defeat with a horribly casual shot that Howard was able to kick away.

Ferdinand also missed and, with Leighton Baines, Neville, James Vaughan and finally Jagielka scoring for Everton, justice, at least of a sort, was done.

On another day, perhaps with another referee or a different outcome in the shoot-out, Ferguson would have enjoyed the greatest vindication imaginable. But he has been telling us all along that the talk of a United clean sweep was nonsensical. Perhaps he knew all along that something would have to give. If that is the case, Everton were grateful – and worthy – recipients of such a gift.

Manchester United (4-4-2): B Foster 7 Rafael Da Silva 5 R Ferdinand 7 N Vidic 8 Fábio Da Silva 6 Park Ji Sung 6 D Gibson 6 Anderson 6 D Welbeck 6 C Tévez 4 F Macheda 4 Substitutes: P Evra 6 (for Fábio, 63min), P Scholes 6 (for Park, 67), D Berbatov 4 (for Macheda, 91). Not used: T Kuszczak, G Neville, J Evans, Nani.

Everton (4-4-1-1): T Howard 7 A Hibbert 6 P Jagielka 7 J Lescott 8 L Baines 7 L Osman 6 P Neville 6 T Cahill 6 S Pienaar 7 M Fellaini 6 L Saha 5

Substitutes: J Rodwell 5 (for Saha, 70min), J Vaughan (for Fellaini, 103). Not used: C Nash, J Yobo, L Jacobsen, S Castillo, D Gosling.

Referee M Riley Attendance 88,141