🔗 Share this article

Against a backdrop of sleet, flurries, and a swirling breeze from the waters of the Humber, alongside a determined Hull City side fighting for a top-flight place, this had all the makings of a difficult evening’s task for the visitors.

"We could have scored more but the opposition are a good team and it was a difficult tie; I am delighted with the performance," the manager stated. "This club is very special to me so it was great to get a good welcome from the fans of supporters. The attitude of the players was superb."

The Rosenior holds this city dear to him, given some of his relatives are from Hull and his successful period in charge of the Championship club. His happy association continued with a magnificent display from his squad, who in the end sauntered into the next round of the FA Cup.

Deadly Edge Seals Comprehensive Victory

Three days after surrendering a two-goal advantage in the Premier League, there was a hint of vulnerability about them going into this potentially tricky tie. The packed Hull support clearly sensed it too, but the London side navigated the task with ease.

The manager rang the changes, making multiple of them to his XI. The tie could and maybe ought to have been settled earlier than it eventually was, with both the Brazilian winger and the forward guilty of spurning glorious opportunities to put Chelsea in front in the first half.

However, luckily for the away team, their Portuguese attacker was in a much more clinical frame of mind. He broke the scoring with a spectacular distance strike, which proved to be the spark for his team to take control of proceedings. By the final whistle, they had four, with Neto scoring a trio of them for a superb three-goal haul.

The Forward's Response and Influence

The home side showed plenty of spirit all game, but the better opportunities consistently fell to the visitors. The winger ought to have opened the deadlock when he rounded goalkeeper the Hull stopper before inexplicably firing over. Delap then had a similar nightmare incident in front of goal against his old team.

He deflected a the goalkeeper's kick which bounced back from the bar, and he started to run away believing the ball had crossed the line. It had not, and by the time he understood, Hull's backline had responded to clear the danger.

Delap had his head in his hands after that miss, but he was immensely influential from that point onward, registering 3 key passes. The first was for the opening goal as his pass set up Neto to score from range. Shortly after the restart, it was two as Neto's set-piece went directly in through the keeper's legs.

Tie Put Beyond Doubt and Attention Turns

Seven minutes after the second goal, the tie was put beyond doubt as a dazzling run from the forward laid on Estêvão to slide into an unguarded goal. Neto then completed his hat-trick as Delap once again delivered the crucial ball for the attacker to coolly convert by a stranded goalkeeper.

At that point, the effort Hull had put in in the first thirty minutes had been erased. Their focus must now return to achieving a return to the Premier League under their manager, who left out several key players with that aim in mind.

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

There was great effort to the end, and they almost got a consolation when Lewis Koumas struck a the upright in injury time. But this was the Blues' evening, and another encouraging step forward for their new head coach at a place he is familiar with very well.

FA Cup History Are Good

That made for an in the end straightforward evening’s work, and the FA Cup-shaped omens are good 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 progressed to make the final. There is still done in that regard, but this was another huge tick for Rosenior.