🔗 Share this article

Amid sleet, snow, and a biting breeze off the banks of the Humber, alongside a determined home side fighting for promotion, this had all the ingredients of a challenging night's work for Chelsea.

"We might have scored more but the opposition are a strong 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 nice to get a positive reception from the fans of supporters. The application of the lads was excellent."

Liam Rosenior holds this place dear to him, considering some of his family hail from Hull and his successful period in management of the Tigers. This positive association was extended with a commanding performance from his squad, who in the end sauntered into the fifth round of the famous old competition.

Deadly Edge Seals Comprehensive Win

Three days removed from letting slip a 2-0 advantage in the Premier League, there was a sniff of vulnerability about Chelsea going into this potentially tricky cup clash. The packed Hull crowd evidently felt it too, but Rosenior's men handled the task perfectly.

The manager made alterations, making seven of them to his starting lineup. The tie could and perhaps should have been decided long before it actually was, with both the Brazilian winger and Liam Delap at fault for spurning excellent opportunities to put Chelsea in front in the opening period.

However, luckily for the visitors, their Portuguese attacker was in a much more ruthless frame of mind. He broke the scoring with a marvellous distance effort, which acted as the catalyst for Chelsea to take command of proceedings. By full time, they had 4 goals, with the forward scoring three of them for a superb hat-trick.

The Forward's Response and Impact

The home side displayed plenty of fight throughout, but the clearer chances consistently came Chelsea’s way. The winger ought to have broken the scoring when he rounded keeper Dillon Phillips before unbelievably shooting over. Delap then had a similar nightmare moment in front of goal against his former club.

He blocked a Phillips's kick which came off the bar, and he started to celebrate thinking the ball had gone over the line. It had not, and by the time he realised, Hull's defenders had responded to avert the danger.

Delap had his head in his hands after that miss, but he was hugely instrumental from there on out, providing three assists. The opening was for the first goal as his pass set up Neto to finish from range. Shortly after the restart, it was 2-0 as Neto's set-piece went directly in under the keeper's legs.

Tie Put Beyond Doubt and Attention Turns

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

At that point, the effort Hull had done in the first thirty minutes had been forgotten. Their focus must now return to securing a return to the Premier League under their manager, who rested a number of key individuals with that goal in mind.

"I think we deserved at least one goal but if we perform like this we will be in a strong situation in the league," he said. "Never surrender, maybe in the upcoming games this can be a good lesson of how we must play."

Hull showed plenty of endeavour to the end, and they nearly claimed a consolation when a substitute struck a the upright in stoppage time. But this was the Blues' evening, and another positive stride for their recently-appointed head coach at a stadium he is familiar with very well.

FA Cup History Are Promising

The result made for an in the end straightforward evening’s work, and the cup competition signs are good from here for the winners. They have played Hull on three previous occasions in this competition in the last decade and on each occasion, they have progressed to reach the showpiece. There is remains to be done in that respect, but this was another huge tick for the Chelsea boss.