🔗 Share this article

Amid freezing rain, snow, and a swirling wind off the banks of the Humber Estuary, combined with a resolute Hull City side fighting for promotion, this presented all the ingredients of a difficult evening’s work for Chelsea.

"We might have added to our tally but the opposition are a good team and it was a tough tie; I am very pleased with the display," he said. "This club means a lot to me so it was great to get a good reception from both sets of fans. The attitude of the players was superb."

The Rosenior holds this city dear to him, given part of his relatives hail from Hull and his enjoyable period in management of the Tigers. This happy association continued with a magnificent performance from his team, who ultimately sauntered into the next round of the famous old competition.

Deadly Edge Secures Comfortable Victory

Three days removed from letting slip a two-goal advantage in the Premier League, there was a sniff of fragility about them going into this potentially tricky cup clash. The packed Hull crowd evidently sensed it too, but the London side navigated the task with ease.

The manager rang the changes, enacting multiple of them to his XI. The match might and maybe ought to have been decided long before it actually was, with two the Brazilian winger and the forward guilty of missing excellent chances to put their side in front in the opening period.

But, luckily for the visitors, Pedro Neto was in a much more clinical frame of mind. He broke the deadlock with a marvellous long-range effort, which proved to be the spark for Chelsea to assume command of proceedings. By full time, they had four, with the forward netting a trio of them for a superb hat-trick.

The Forward's Response and Influence

Hull showed plenty of spirit all game, but the clearer opportunities always fell Chelsea’s way. Estêvão should have broken the scoring when he rounded goalkeeper Dillon Phillips before unbelievably firing over. Delap then had a similar horror incident in front of goal against his old team.

He blocked a the goalkeeper's clearance which came off the bar, and he started to celebrate believing the ball had crossed the line. It had not, and by the time he understood, Hull's backline had responded to avert the danger.

Delap had his head in his hands after that moment, but he was immensely instrumental from that point onward, providing three assists. The opening was for the first goal as his through ball teed up Neto to finish from range. Shortly after the restart, it was two as Neto's corner went directly in through Phillips's legs.

Tie Put Beyond Doubt and Attention Turns

Soon after the second, the match was put beyond doubt as a dazzling run from the forward teed up Estêvão to slide into an empty net. The hat-trick hero then completed his treble as Delap again delivered the decisive ball for the striker to calmly slot past a helpless goalkeeper.

At that point, the effort Hull had put in in the opening half-hour had long since forgotten. Their priority must now switch back to achieving a return to the top division under their manager, who rested a number of first-choice players with that aim in mind.

"In my opinion we deserved at least one goal but if we play like this we will be in a strong position in the league," he said. "Keep fighting, maybe in the next matches this can be a good lesson of how we should play."

Hull showed plenty of effort to the final whistle, and they nearly claimed a late goal when Lewis Koumas hit a the upright in injury time. But this was Chelsea’s night, and another positive step forward for their new manager at a place he is familiar with very well.

FA Cup History Are Good

The result made for an in the end routine night's work, and the FA Cup-shaped signs are positive from here for Chelsea. They have played Hull on three previous occasions in this tournament in the last decade and every single time, they have gone on to make the showpiece. Much remains to be work in that regard, but this was another significant positive for Rosenior.