🔗 Share this article

Amid freezing rain, snow, and a swirling wind from the waters of the Humber Estuary, combined with a resolute Hull City side fighting for a top-flight place, this had all the ingredients of a difficult evening’s task for Chelsea.

"We might have added to our tally but Hull are a strong team and it was a tough tie; I’m delighted with the display," the manager stated. "Hull City is very special to me so it was great to get a good reception from both sets of fans. The attitude of the lads was superb."

The Chelsea manager holds this city close to his heart, given part of his family are from Hull and his enjoyable spell in management of the Tigers. His happy association continued with a magnificent performance from his team, who in the end sauntered into the fifth round of the famous old competition.

Clinical Finishing Seals Comprehensive Victory

Seventy-two hours after letting slip a two-goal lead in the Premier League, there was a hint of fragility about them going into this intriguing tie. The capacity Hull support evidently felt it too, but the London side handled the challenge perfectly.

Rosenior made alterations, making seven of them to his XI. The tie might and maybe ought to have been decided long before it eventually was, with both Estêvão Willian and Liam Delap guilty of spurning glorious opportunities to put their side in front in the first half.

But, fortunately for the away team, Pedro Neto was in a far more ruthless frame of mind. He broke the scoring with a spectacular distance strike, which acted as the spark for his team to assume command of proceedings. By full time, they had 4 goals, with Neto scoring a trio of them for a brilliant hat-trick.

The Forward's Response and Influence

The home side displayed plenty of spirit all game, but the better opportunities always came Chelsea’s way. Estêvão ought to have opened the deadlock when he went past goalkeeper the Hull stopper before unbelievably shooting over. The striker then had a similar nightmare incident in front of goal against his former club.

He blocked a Phillips's clearance which came back from the bar, and Delap began to run away believing the ball had gone over the line. It had not, and by the time he understood, Hull's backline had reacted to clear the threat.

Delap had his head in his hands after that miss, but he was hugely instrumental from that point onward, providing three key passes. The opening was for the opening goal as his through ball set up Neto to score from outside the box. Shortly after the second half began, it was 2-0 as the forward's set-piece went directly in through Phillips's legs.

Tie Put Beyond Doubt and Focus Shifts

Seven minutes after Neto’s second goal, the tie was put beyond doubt as a magnificent run from Delap teed up his teammate to tap into an empty net. The hat-trick hero then completed his hat-trick as the provider again played the decisive ball for the attacker to coolly convert past a helpless Phillips.

At that point, the work Hull had done in the opening half-hour had long since forgotten. Their priority must now switch back to securing a return to the Premier League under Sergej Jakirovic, who left out several first-choice individuals with that aim in mind.

"I think we deserved at least one goal but if we play like this we will be in a strong position in the Championship," the Hull manager commented. "Never surrender, maybe in the next games this can be a positive lesson of how we should play."

Hull showed plenty of effort to the end, and they nearly claimed a consolation when a substitute hit a post in injury time. But this was the Blues' evening, and another encouraging stride for their recently-appointed head coach at a place he knows very well.

Cup Omens Are Promising

The result resulted in an ultimately straightforward night's work, and the FA Cup-shaped omens are positive from here for the winners. They have played Hull on three previous times in this tournament in the past ten years and on each occasion, they have gone on to make the showpiece. Much remains to be done in that respect, but this was another significant positive for the Chelsea boss.