🔗 Share this article

Amid freezing rain, flurries, and a biting wind from the waters of the Humber, combined with a determined home side pushing hard for promotion, this presented all the makings of a challenging night's task for Chelsea.

"We might have scored more but Hull are a good team and it was a tough tie; I’m delighted with the performance," the manager stated. "This club means a lot to me so it was great to get a positive welcome from both sets of fans. The application of the players was excellent."

Liam Rosenior holds this city dear to him, considering part of his family hail from Hull and his successful period in management of the Championship club. This happy association continued with a commanding display from his squad, who in the end strolled into the fifth round of the famous old competition.

Deadly Edge Seals Comprehensive Win

Seventy-two hours removed from surrendering a 2-0 advantage in the Premier League, there was a hint of vulnerability about them going into this intriguing tie. The packed home support evidently sensed it too, but Rosenior's men handled the challenge perfectly.

The manager made alterations, making multiple of them to his starting lineup. The tie could and maybe ought to have been settled long before it actually was, with two the Brazilian winger and Liam Delap guilty of spurning excellent opportunities to put Chelsea ahead in the opening period.

However, luckily for the visitors, their Portuguese attacker was in a much more ruthless frame of mind. He opened the scoring with a marvellous distance effort, which proved to be the spark for Chelsea to take command of proceedings. By full time, they had four, with Neto scoring three of them for a brilliant three-goal haul.

Delap's Response and Impact

Hull displayed great spirit all game, but the better opportunities consistently fell Chelsea’s way. The winger should have broken the deadlock when he went past goalkeeper the Hull stopper before unbelievably firing over. Delap then had a comparable horror incident in front of goal against his former club.

He blocked a the goalkeeper's kick which came off the crossbar, and he started to run away thinking the ball had crossed the line. It had not, and by the time he understood, Hull's defenders had reacted to avert the danger.

Delap had his head in his hands after that moment, but he was hugely influential from there on out, registering three assists. The first was for the first goal as his pass teed up his teammate to score from outside the box. Shortly after the restart, it was two as Neto's set-piece went directly in under Phillips's legs.

Tie Sealed and Focus Shifts

Seven minutes after Neto’s second, the match was put beyond doubt as a magnificent run from the forward laid on Estêvão to tap into an empty net. Neto then completed his hat-trick as Delap again delivered the crucial pass for the striker to coolly convert past a helpless goalkeeper.

At that point, the work Hull had put in in the opening thirty minutes had long since forgotten. Their priority must now return to securing 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 earned at least one goal but if we perform like this we will be in a very good situation in the Championship," the Hull manager commented. "Keep fighting, maybe in the next matches this can be a positive lesson of how we must play."

There was plenty of endeavour to the final whistle, and they almost got a consolation when Lewis Koumas hit a post in injury time. But this was the Blues' evening, and another positive stride for their recently-appointed head coach at a place he knows very well.

Cup History Are Promising

The result resulted in an in the end straightforward evening’s performance, and the cup competition omens are positive from here for the winners. They have faced Hull on three previous occasions in this tournament in the past ten years and on each occasion, they have gone on to reach the showpiece. There is remains to be work in that respect, but this was another huge tick for Rosenior.