Arsenal Ladies manager Shelley Kerr was relieved to see skipper Kelly Smith’s class shine through as they moved into the last eight of The FA Women’s Cup.
Gillingham provided stiff opposition at Borehamwood but the hosts’ pressure told after the break and Smith netted a penalty before sealing the result in style.
And Kerr, whose side were beaten to The FA WSL title for the first time last season, was impressed by the visitors’ resilience.
Arsenal 2-0 Gillingham
The FA Women's Cup
Fifth Round
Sunday 13 April
at Boreham Wood FC
She said: "The second goal was fantastic from Kelly – we’ve got players of real quality and they should be able to make a difference when you play at this level.
"In the end it was a comfortable win for us, perhaps not reflected in the scoreline. They put everyone behind the ball so we had be patient to break them down and thankfully we did.
"We were trying to play attractive football but that becomes more difficult when teams sit behind the ball, but they played to their strengths.
"The Cup is so important to us and we’re delighted to be in the next round."
Arsenal’s first chance came through Rachel Yankey as she pulled back for Smith, whose first time strike brought a smart save from Gillingham goalkeeper Faye Baker.
On 25 minutes a sublime pass over the Gillingham defence found Shinobu Ohno bursting forward, but she poked her attempt agonisingly wide before Emma Mitchell drew another strong palm away from Baker.
Gillingham continued to frustrate the hosts after the break, until Smith was tripped inside the area on the hour and England’s record goalscorer stepped up to calmly send Baker the wrong way.
She then doubled their advantage with 10 minutes to go, curling a stunning left-foot shot into the top right-hand corner.
Gillingham boss James Marrs said: "I’m really proud of that performance – they stuck at what I wanted them to do and stayed disciplined.
"I didn’t know what to say to them at the end, I’m just so pleased with the amount of work they put in. We had to graft because if you come here and open up against Arsenal you are asking for trouble.
"We’ve had a slip in concentration and she [Smith] has belted it into the top corner, but they’re a high calibre team and losing only 2-0 to them says a lot about our credentials and aspirations as a club."
