🔗 Share this article

Against a backdrop of sleet, snow, and a biting breeze off the banks of the Humber Estuary, combined with a determined home side fighting for promotion, this had all the ingredients of a difficult night's task for the visitors.

"We could have scored more but Hull are a strong team and it was a tough tie; I am delighted with the display," the manager stated. "Hull City means a lot to me so it was great to get a positive welcome from both sets of supporters. The application of the players was superb."

Liam Chelsea manager holds this place dear to him, given part of his relatives hail from Hull and his successful period in charge of the Tigers. This happy connection continued with a commanding display from his team, who in the end sauntered into the next round of the FA Cup.

Clinical Finishing Secures Comfortable Win

Seventy-two hours removed from letting slip a 2-0 advantage in the Premier League, there was a sniff of fragility about Chelsea going into this potentially tricky tie. The capacity home support evidently felt it too, but the London side handled the task with ease.

Rosenior made alterations, making seven of them to his XI. The tie could and maybe should have been settled earlier than it eventually was, with both the Brazilian winger and the forward guilty of missing excellent opportunities to put their side 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 strike, which proved to be the catalyst for Chelsea to assume control of the match. By full time, they had 4 goals, with Neto scoring a trio of them for a brilliant three-goal haul.

Delap's Redemption and Influence

The home side displayed great fight throughout, but the clearer opportunities consistently came Chelsea’s way. The winger should have broken the deadlock when he rounded keeper the Hull stopper before unbelievably shooting over. Delap then had a similar nightmare incident in front of goal against his former club.

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

The player had his head in his hands after that moment, but he was hugely influential from there on out, providing three assists. The opening was for the first goal as his pass set up his teammate to finish from outside the box. Six minutes after the restart, it was 2-0 as Neto's corner went straight in through the keeper's legs.

Contest Sealed and Attention Turns

Soon after the second goal, the tie was effectively ended as a magnificent run from the forward teed up Estêvão to slide into an unguarded goal. The hat-trick hero then finished his treble as Delap once again delivered the decisive pass for the striker to coolly slot past a stranded Phillips.

By that stage, the effort Hull had done in the opening thirty minutes had long since forgotten. Their focus must now switch back to achieving a promotion to the top division under their manager, who left out several first-choice individuals with that aim in mind.

"In my opinion we deserved at least one goal but if we perform like this we will be in a very good position in the league," the Hull manager commented. "Never surrender, maybe in the next games this can be a positive example of how we must play."

There was great effort to the final whistle, and they almost got a consolation when Lewis Koumas struck a post in injury time. But this was Chelsea’s evening, and another positive stride for their recently-appointed manager at a stadium he is familiar with intimately.

FA Cup Omens Are Promising

That made for 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 times in this tournament in the past ten years and every single time, they have progressed to make the showpiece. There is still work in that respect, but this was another huge tick for Rosenior.