🔗 Share this article

Against a backdrop of sleet, snow, and a biting wind off the waters of the Humber, alongside a determined home side pushing hard for a top-flight place, this presented all the ingredients of a challenging evening’s work for the visitors.

"We might have scored more but the opposition are a good team and it was a tough tie; I am very pleased with the display," the manager stated. "Hull City means a lot to me so it was nice to get a positive welcome from both sets of supporters. The application of the lads was excellent."

Liam Chelsea manager has this city dear to him, given part of his family hail from Hull and his enjoyable spell in management of the Tigers. This happy association continued with a commanding performance from his squad, who in the end sauntered into the fifth round of the FA Cup.

Deadly Finishing Seals Comprehensive Victory

Three days after surrendering a 2-0 lead in the Premier League, there was a hint of fragility about them going into this potentially tricky cup clash. The packed home crowd clearly felt it too, but the London side navigated the task with ease.

Rosenior rang the changes, enacting multiple of them to his XI. The match could and perhaps should have been decided earlier than it eventually was, with both the Brazilian winger and the forward guilty of spurning glorious opportunities to put Chelsea in front in the opening period.

But, fortunately for the away team, Pedro Neto was in a far more ruthless mood. He opened the deadlock with a spectacular long-range strike, which acted as the catalyst for his team to assume control of the match. By the final whistle, they had four, with the forward netting three of them for a superb hat-trick.

Delap's Response and Influence

Hull displayed great fight all game, but the better opportunities consistently fell to the visitors. The winger ought to have broken the scoring when he went past goalkeeper the Hull stopper before inexplicably firing over. The striker then had a similar horror moment in front of goal against his former club.

He deflected a the goalkeeper's kick which bounced off the bar, and he started to run away thinking the ball had crossed the line. It hadn’t, and by the time he realised, Hull's defenders had reacted to clear the threat.

The player had his head in his hands after that miss, but he was hugely influential from there on out, registering three key passes. The opening was for the first goal as his pass set up his teammate to finish from outside the box. Shortly after the restart, it was 2-0 as Neto's corner went directly in under the keeper's legs.

Tie Put Beyond Doubt and Attention Shifts

Soon after Neto’s second goal, the tie was put beyond doubt as a magnificent run from Delap laid on Estêvão to slide into an empty net. Neto then finished his treble as the provider again delivered the crucial pass for the attacker to coolly convert past a stranded Phillips.

By that stage, the work Hull had done in the first half-hour had long since forgotten. Their priority must now return to securing a promotion to the Premier League under Sergej Jakirovic, who rested a number of key players with that aim in mind.

"In my opinion we earned at least one goal but if we perform like this we will be in a strong position in the Championship," the Hull manager commented. "Never surrender, maybe in the upcoming matches this can be a good example of how we must play."

Hull showed plenty of endeavour to the final whistle, and they nearly got a late goal when Lewis Koumas struck a post in injury time. But this was Chelsea’s night, and another encouraging step forward for their new manager at a stadium he is familiar with very well.

Cup History Look Promising

That made for an in the end routine night's performance, and the FA Cup-shaped omens are good from here for the winners. They have faced Hull on three other occasions in this competition in the last decade and on each occasion, they have progressed to make the showpiece. There is still work in that regard, but this was another significant tick for the Chelsea boss.