🔗 Share this article

Amid freezing rain, flurries, and a swirling wind from the banks of the Humber, alongside a resolute Hull City side pushing hard for a top-flight place, this presented all the makings of a challenging evening’s task for Chelsea.

"We could have scored more but the opposition are a good team and it was a difficult tie; I am delighted with the performance," he said. "Hull City means a lot to me so it was great to get a good welcome from both sets of supporters. The application of the players was superb."

The Chelsea manager holds this city dear to him, considering part of his family hail from Hull and his successful period in charge of the Championship club. His positive association was extended with a commanding performance from his team, who in the end strolled into the fifth round of the FA Cup.

Clinical Finishing Secures Comprehensive Win

Seventy-two hours removed from letting slip a two-goal lead in the league, there was a sniff of vulnerability about Chelsea going into this intriguing tie. The capacity Hull crowd evidently sensed it too, but Rosenior's men navigated the challenge with ease.

The manager rang the changes, making multiple of them to his XI. The match could and perhaps should have been settled long before it eventually was, with both Estêvão Willian and Liam Delap guilty of missing glorious opportunities to put Chelsea ahead in the opening period.

However, luckily for the visitors, their Portuguese attacker was in a much more ruthless mood. He opened the deadlock with a marvellous long-range effort, which acted as the catalyst for his team to assume control of proceedings. By the final whistle, they had 4 goals, with the forward netting three of them for a superb three-goal haul.

Delap's Response and Impact

Hull showed great fight all game, but the clearer chances consistently fell Chelsea’s way. The winger should have broken the deadlock when he went past goalkeeper the Hull stopper before inexplicably firing over. The striker then had a comparable horror incident in front of goal against his old team.

He deflected a the goalkeeper's kick which came off the bar, and Delap began to run away thinking the ball had gone over the line. It had not, and by the time he realised, Hull's backline had responded to avert the danger.

Delap had his head in his hands after that moment, but he was hugely instrumental from there on out, registering 3 key passes. The first was for the opening goal as his through ball teed up Neto to score from range. Shortly after the restart, it was two as the forward's set-piece went straight in through Phillips's legs.

Contest Put Beyond Doubt and Focus Shifts

Seven minutes after the second, the tie was put beyond doubt as a magnificent dribble from Delap laid on his teammate to tap into an unguarded goal. Neto then finished his treble as the provider again played the decisive ball for the striker to calmly slot by a stranded Phillips.

By that stage, the work Hull had put in in the first thirty minutes had been erased. Their focus must now return to securing a promotion to the top division under their manager, who rested several key players with that goal in mind.

"I think we deserved at least one goal but if we play like this we will be in a very good position in the league," the Hull manager commented. "Never surrender, maybe in the next matches this can be a positive lesson of how we must play."

There was plenty of endeavour to the end, and they almost claimed a consolation when a substitute hit a post in injury time. But this was the Blues' night, and another positive stride for their new manager at a stadium he knows intimately.

FA Cup History Are Good

That resulted in an ultimately straightforward night's performance, and the cup competition omens are positive from here for Chelsea. They have played Hull on three other occasions in this competition in the past ten years and on each occasion, they have gone on to reach the final. Much still work in that respect, but this was another huge tick for the Chelsea boss.