Everton manager Willie Kirk has issued a rallying call to his players to kick on next season and break into the top four of the Women's Super League. 

The Toffees finished their league campaign with a 2-0 defeat away to Manchester United on Sunday. 

Despite the final result, the Club secured a fifth-placed finish, their best performance since 2013. 

However, Kirk urged his players not to be satisfied as they aim to go one better next season. 

“It’s the old saying, ‘We’ll just get what we’ve got’, which is fifth place and we’re not going to be satisfied with fifth place," Kirk told evertontv.

“There’s lots to be proud of in terms of the league campaign.

"We are unbeaten against the teams below us and that’s a real positive. It shows professionalism and consistency but we need to push on if we want to achieve the ambitions we have set out.

“There’s an evident gap between us and the top four.

"We’ll improve the squad and if we just continue to go about our business, there’s every chance we could go unbeaten again against the teams below us.

"There’s a good chance we might not even drop a point against the teams below us because our squad will be better and that’s the way it’ll work.

"We need to make changes. We need to change our working practices. We need to continue to work at the culture.

"There’s got to be a little bit more of a killer instinct. 

“As a team, I feel we’re on a cliff edge and it’s about the ones who are brave enough to jump and have a bit of faith.

"When you jump, there’s going to be a nice landing. Those who don’t jump, they can’t be here because we need to find a way of jumping into something positive.

“It’s about taking those ones with us who are brave enough and making sure we are competing for Champions League spots next season.”

Kirk reflected on the weekend's result and expressed his disappointment for the players that they hadn't picked up a pair of points from their final two fixtures.

"I thought for large parts of our performance we were good [against United]," said Kirk.

"I thought in possession we were good, I thought between both boxes we were good. We were lively in the final third, we made a lot of final-third entries.

"I thought we lacked a bit of quality at times to turn chances into good chances, but I also thought Manchester United defended very well and they deserved the three points based on their defensive performance more than anything else.

"That was probably the difference between the two teams.

“[We] dominated possession, had more final-third entries. Used the ball intelligently at times.

“It’s really disappointing for the players that they’ve put so much into the last two games and not taken any points.”

Chelsea await this month in the fifth round of the Vitality Women's FA Cup. 

The Toffees were victorious over the London side at Goodison Park in last season's quarter-final – played in September – and Kirk believes his squad boast the capacity to repeat that feat. 

"We will treat that as a one-off match," Kirk added.

"Chelsea have obviously got a couple of important issues themselves... a Champions League final next Sunday, and we wish them well with that, but we will certainly be going down there next week to beat them.

“Playing at Goodison, beating Chelsea, that’s the memory of the season.

"We have got a unique opportunity to go and recreate that memory.

"We’ll be giving it everything we can to recreate that and make sure we have the latter stages of the FA Cup to look forward to again next year.”