🔗 Share this article

Amid sleet, flurries, and a biting breeze from the waters of the Humber, combined with a determined Hull City side pushing hard for promotion, this presented all the makings of a difficult night's work for Chelsea.

"We could have scored more but the opposition are a good team and it was a difficult fixture; I am delighted with the display," he said. "This club means a lot to me so it was great to get a good welcome from the fans of fans. The application of the lads was superb."

The Chelsea manager has this city dear to him, given some of his relatives hail from Hull and his successful period in management of the Championship club. This happy connection was extended with a commanding performance from his squad, who in the end sauntered into the next round of the FA Cup.

Deadly Edge Seals Comprehensive Win

Three days removed from letting slip a 2-0 advantage in the league, there was a hint of fragility about Chelsea going into this potentially tricky cup clash. The capacity Hull support clearly felt it too, but Rosenior's men handled the task perfectly.

Rosenior made alterations, making multiple of them to his starting lineup. The match might and perhaps ought to have been settled long before it actually was, with two the Brazilian winger and Liam Delap at fault for spurning excellent chances to put their side ahead in the opening period.

However, fortunately for the visitors, their Portuguese attacker was in a far 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 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 showed plenty of spirit throughout, but the better chances always came Chelsea’s way. Estêvão ought to have broken the deadlock when he rounded keeper Dillon Phillips before unbelievably firing over. The striker then had a comparable horror incident in front of goal against his former club.

He deflected a Phillips's kick which bounced off the crossbar, and Delap started to run away believing the ball had gone over the line. It hadn’t, and by the time he realised, Hull's backline 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 first was for the opening goal as his pass teed up Neto to score from range. Six minutes after the second half began, it was two as Neto's set-piece went straight in through the keeper's legs.

Contest Sealed and Attention Turns

Seven minutes after Neto’s second goal, the tie was effectively ended as a dazzling run from Delap laid on Estêvão to tap into an empty net. The hat-trick hero then finished his treble as Delap once again delivered the decisive pass for the striker to calmly slot by a helpless Phillips.

At that point, the work Hull had put in in the opening thirty minutes had been forgotten. Their focus must now return to achieving a promotion to the top division under their manager, who left out several 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 situation in the league," he said. "Never surrender, maybe in the next matches this can be a good lesson of how we must play."

There was plenty of endeavour to the final whistle, and they almost got a consolation when a substitute struck a post in injury time. But this was Chelsea’s evening, and another encouraging step forward for their new manager at a place he is familiar with intimately.

Cup History Are Good

The result made for an in the end routine evening’s work, and the FA Cup-shaped omens are good from here for Chelsea. They have faced Hull on three previous times in this tournament in the last decade and on each occasion, they have progressed to reach the showpiece. Much remains to be work in that respect, but this was another huge positive for Rosenior.