🔗 Share this article

Against a backdrop of freezing rain, snow, and a biting breeze off the waters of the Humber Estuary, alongside a determined Hull City side pushing hard for a top-flight place, this presented all the makings of a challenging evening’s task for the visitors.

"We might have scored more but the opposition are a strong team and it was a difficult fixture; I’m very pleased with the performance," the manager stated. "Hull City means a lot to me so it was great to get a good welcome from both sets of supporters. The attitude of the lads was excellent."

Liam Chelsea manager holds this city dear to him, given part of his family are from Hull and his successful period in management of the Championship club. This happy connection continued with a commanding display from his team, who in the end sauntered into the next round of the FA Cup.

Deadly Finishing Secures Comfortable Victory

Seventy-two hours removed from surrendering a 2-0 advantage in the league, there was a sniff of fragility about Chelsea going into this intriguing tie. The packed Hull crowd evidently felt it too, but the London side navigated the challenge perfectly.

Rosenior rang the changes, making multiple of them to his XI. The match might and perhaps ought to have been decided long before it eventually was, with two Estêvão Willian and the forward guilty of missing glorious opportunities to put Chelsea ahead in the first half.

But, fortunately for the visitors, their Portuguese attacker was in a far more clinical mood. He opened the deadlock with a marvellous distance strike, which proved to be the spark for his team to take control of the match. By the final whistle, they had 4 goals, with the forward netting three of them for a brilliant hat-trick.

Delap's Redemption and Influence

The home side displayed plenty of spirit all game, but the better opportunities consistently fell to the visitors. Estêvão ought to have opened the deadlock when he rounded goalkeeper Dillon Phillips before inexplicably shooting over. The striker then had a comparable horror incident in front of goal against his old team.

He blocked a Phillips's kick which bounced off the crossbar, and he started to celebrate thinking the ball had gone over the line. It hadn’t, and by the time he understood, Hull's defenders had responded to clear the danger.

Delap had his head in his hands after that moment, but he was immensely influential from that point onward, providing 3 assists. The first was for the first goal as his pass teed up Neto to score from range. Shortly after the restart, it was two as Neto's set-piece went directly in through Phillips's legs.

Contest Put Beyond Doubt and Focus Shifts

Seven minutes after the second goal, the match was put beyond doubt as a dazzling dribble from the forward laid on his teammate to tap into an empty net. Neto then finished his treble as the provider once again delivered the crucial ball for the attacker to calmly slot past a stranded Phillips.

By that stage, the work Hull had done in the opening half-hour had long since erased. Their priority must now switch back to securing a return to the Premier League under their manager, who left out a number of key players with that aim in mind.

"In my opinion we earned at least one goal but if we play like this we will be in a very good position in the Championship," he said. "Never surrender, maybe in the upcoming matches this can be a good example of how we should play."

Hull showed great endeavour to the end, and they almost claimed a late goal when Lewis Koumas hit a post in stoppage time. But this was the Blues' evening, and another positive step forward for their recently-appointed manager at a stadium he knows intimately.

Cup History Look Promising

The result made for an ultimately routine night's work, and the FA Cup-shaped signs are good from here for Chelsea. They have played Hull on three previous occasions in this competition in the last decade and every single time, they have progressed to reach the final. Much still done in that regard, but this was another huge tick for Rosenior.