🔗 Share this article

Amid freezing rain, flurries, and a biting breeze off the waters of the Humber Estuary, combined with a resolute Hull City side pushing hard for promotion, this presented all the ingredients of a difficult evening’s work for Chelsea.

"We might have added to our tally but Hull are a strong team and it was a difficult tie; I’m very pleased with the display," he said. "This club means a lot to me so it was nice to get a positive reception from the fans of fans. The application of the lads was excellent."

Liam Chelsea manager has this place close to his heart, considering part of his family hail from Hull and his successful spell in charge of the Tigers. His positive connection was extended with a magnificent performance from his team, who in the end strolled into the next round of the FA Cup.

Clinical Edge Secures Comprehensive Victory

Seventy-two hours after letting slip a 2-0 advantage in the league, there was a hint of fragility about them going into this potentially tricky tie. The capacity home support evidently sensed it too, but Rosenior's men navigated the challenge with ease.

Rosenior made alterations, enacting multiple of them to his XI. The match might and perhaps should have been decided earlier than it eventually was, with two the Brazilian winger and the forward at fault for missing excellent chances to put Chelsea ahead in the first half.

But, fortunately for the away team, Pedro Neto was in a much more ruthless frame of mind. He opened the deadlock with a marvellous long-range effort, which proved to be the catalyst for Chelsea to assume control of proceedings. By full time, they had 4 goals, with Neto netting a trio of them for a brilliant three-goal haul.

Delap's Redemption and Influence

Hull showed plenty of fight all game, but the clearer chances always fell Chelsea’s way. The winger ought to have opened the scoring when he went past goalkeeper the Hull stopper before inexplicably firing over. The striker then had a comparable nightmare incident in front of goal against his former club.

He blocked a Phillips's clearance which came back from the crossbar, and he started to run away believing the ball had crossed the line. It had not, and by the time he understood, Hull's backline had reacted to clear the danger.

The player had his head in his hands after that moment, but he was hugely instrumental from that point onward, registering three key passes. The opening was for the first goal as his pass teed up his teammate to score from range. Shortly after the restart, it was 2-0 as the forward's set-piece went directly in through Phillips's legs.

Contest Put Beyond Doubt and Attention Shifts

Seven minutes after Neto’s second goal, the match was put beyond doubt as a dazzling dribble from the forward teed up his teammate to slide into an empty net. The hat-trick hero then completed his treble as Delap once again delivered the crucial pass for the attacker to calmly convert past a helpless goalkeeper.

By that stage, the effort Hull had put in in the opening thirty minutes had been forgotten. Their focus must now switch back to securing a return to the top division under their manager, who rested a number of first-choice players with that goal in mind.

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

Hull showed great effort to the end, and they almost claimed a consolation when a substitute struck a post in stoppage time. But this was the Blues' night, and another positive stride for their recently-appointed head coach at a stadium he is familiar with intimately.

Cup Omens Look Promising

The result made for an in the end straightforward night's performance, and the FA Cup-shaped signs are positive from here for Chelsea. They have faced Hull on three other times in this competition in the past ten years and every single time, they have gone on to make the final. Much remains to be work in that regard, but this was another huge tick for Rosenior.