🔗 Share this article

Amid freezing rain, flurries, and a swirling breeze off the banks of the Humber Estuary, combined with a resolute home side fighting for promotion, this presented all the ingredients of a difficult night's task for Chelsea.

"We might have scored more but the opposition are a good team and it was a difficult tie; I am delighted with the display," the manager stated. "Hull City is very special to me so it was great to get a good reception from the fans of fans. The attitude of the players was excellent."

Liam Chelsea manager has this city close to his heart, given some of his relatives hail from Hull and his successful period in charge of the Championship club. This positive association was extended with a magnificent performance from his team, who ultimately strolled into the next round of the FA Cup.

Clinical Finishing Seals Comfortable Victory

Three days removed from letting slip a two-goal lead in the Premier League, there was a sniff of fragility about Chelsea going into this potentially tricky tie. The packed home crowd evidently felt it too, but Rosenior's men handled the challenge perfectly.

The manager made alterations, making seven of them to his starting lineup. The tie could and perhaps ought to have been settled long before it eventually was, with both the Brazilian winger and the forward at fault for missing excellent opportunities to put their side in front in the opening period.

But, luckily for the visitors, Pedro Neto was in a much more ruthless mood. He broke the deadlock with a marvellous long-range effort, which proved to be the catalyst for his team to take command of proceedings. By full time, they had 4 goals, with Neto netting a trio of them for a brilliant hat-trick.

The Forward's Redemption and Influence

Hull showed great spirit all game, but the clearer opportunities always came to the visitors. Estêvão ought to have opened the scoring when he went past keeper the Hull stopper before unbelievably shooting over. Delap then had a similar nightmare incident in front of goal against his old team.

He blocked a the goalkeeper's clearance which came back from the bar, and Delap started to celebrate believing the ball had crossed the line. It had not, and by the time he realised, Hull's defenders had responded to clear the threat.

Delap had his head in his hands after that moment, but he was hugely influential from there on out, providing 3 key passes. The first was for the first goal as his pass teed up his teammate to finish from outside the box. Six minutes after the second half began, it was 2-0 as Neto's set-piece went directly in under the keeper's legs.

Contest Put Beyond Doubt and Focus Shifts

Soon after the second goal, the match was put beyond doubt as a magnificent dribble from the forward teed up Estêvão to slide into an unguarded goal. Neto then finished his hat-trick as Delap again played the crucial ball for the attacker to calmly convert past a stranded goalkeeper.

By that stage, the work Hull had put in in the first half-hour had been forgotten. Their focus must now switch back to securing a promotion to the Premier League under their manager, who rested a number of key individuals with that goal in mind.

"I think we deserved at least one goal but if we perform like this we will be in a strong position in the Championship," he said. "Never surrender, maybe in the next matches this can be a positive lesson of how we should play."

There was plenty of endeavour to the end, and they almost claimed a late goal when Lewis Koumas struck a post in injury time. But this was the Blues' evening, and another positive step forward for their recently-appointed head coach at a stadium he is familiar with intimately.

FA Cup History Are Good

The result resulted in an in the end straightforward night's work, and the FA Cup-shaped omens are positive from here for Chelsea. They have played Hull on three other occasions in this tournament in the last decade and every single time, they have progressed to make the final. Much still done in that regard, but this was another huge tick for Rosenior.