🔗 Share this article

Against a backdrop of sleet, flurries, and a biting breeze off the waters of the Humber Estuary, alongside a resolute Hull City side fighting for promotion, this presented all the ingredients of a difficult night's task for Chelsea.

"We might have added to our tally but the opposition are a good team and it was a tough fixture; I’m delighted with the performance," the manager stated. "Hull City means a lot to me so it was great to get a good reception from both sets of fans. The attitude of the lads was superb."

The Chelsea manager holds this city close to his heart, considering part of his family are from Hull and his successful period in management of the Championship club. His positive association was extended with a commanding performance from his team, who ultimately sauntered into the next round of the FA Cup.

Deadly Edge Seals Comfortable Victory

Seventy-two hours removed from surrendering a two-goal lead in the league, there was a hint of fragility about Chelsea going into this potentially tricky cup clash. The capacity Hull crowd evidently sensed it too, but Rosenior's men navigated the challenge perfectly.

The manager made alterations, making seven of them to his starting lineup. The match might and perhaps should have been decided earlier than it eventually was, with two Estêvão Willian and Liam Delap at fault for missing excellent opportunities to put Chelsea in front in the first half.

But, luckily for the visitors, their Portuguese attacker was in a far more clinical frame of mind. He opened the scoring with a marvellous long-range strike, which acted as the catalyst for his team to take command of proceedings. By the final whistle, they had 4 goals, with Neto scoring three of them for a superb hat-trick.

Delap's Response and Influence

Hull displayed plenty of fight all game, but the clearer opportunities consistently came to the visitors. The winger should have opened the deadlock when he went past keeper the Hull stopper before unbelievably firing over. The striker then had a similar horror moment in front of goal against his old team.

He deflected a the goalkeeper's clearance which bounced off the bar, and Delap started to celebrate thinking the ball had gone over the line. It had not, and by the time he understood, Hull's defenders had responded to clear the threat.

The player had his head in his hands after that miss, but he was immensely influential from there on out, registering 3 key passes. The opening was for the first goal as his through ball set up his teammate to score from outside the box. Shortly after the second half began, it was 2-0 as the forward's set-piece went straight in under Phillips's legs.

Tie Sealed and Focus Shifts

Soon after the second goal, the tie was effectively ended as a dazzling run from Delap laid on Estêvão to tap into an empty net. Neto then completed his hat-trick as Delap once again delivered the decisive ball for the striker to coolly convert by a helpless Phillips.

At that point, the work Hull had done in the opening thirty minutes had been forgotten. Their focus must now return to achieving a return to the Premier League under Sergej Jakirovic, who left out several key players with that aim 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 Championship," he said. "Keep fighting, maybe in the upcoming games this can be a good example of how we must play."

Hull showed plenty of effort to the end, and they almost claimed a consolation when a substitute hit a the upright in stoppage time. But this was the Blues' evening, and another encouraging stride for their recently-appointed manager at a stadium he is familiar with very well.

FA Cup History Are Promising

That resulted in an in the end routine night's performance, 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. There is still work in that regard, but this was another significant tick for Rosenior.