🔗 Share this article

Against a backdrop of sleet, 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 challenging evening’s task for Chelsea.

"We might have scored more but the opposition are a good team and it was a tough fixture; I’m delighted with the display," he said. "Hull City is very special to me so it was nice to get a good welcome from the fans of fans. The application of the players was excellent."

The Chelsea manager has this city dear to him, given some of his family hail from Hull and his successful spell in management of the Championship club. This positive connection continued with a commanding display from his squad, who ultimately sauntered into the fifth round of the famous old competition.

Deadly Edge Seals Comprehensive Win

Seventy-two hours after letting slip a 2-0 lead in the league, there was a sniff of vulnerability about Chelsea going into this potentially tricky tie. The packed Hull crowd clearly sensed it too, but Rosenior's men navigated the challenge with ease.

The manager made alterations, enacting seven of them to his XI. The match might and maybe ought to have been decided long before it actually was, with two Estêvão Willian and the forward guilty of spurning glorious chances to put Chelsea in front in the first half.

However, fortunately for the visitors, Pedro Neto was in a far more clinical mood. He opened the scoring with a marvellous distance effort, which proved to be the catalyst for Chelsea to assume command of the match. By the final whistle, they had 4 goals, with the forward netting three of them for a superb three-goal haul.

The Forward's Response and Impact

Hull displayed great spirit all game, but the clearer chances always fell to the visitors. The winger should have broken the deadlock when he went past keeper the Hull stopper before inexplicably shooting over. Delap then had a similar horror incident in front of goal against his former club.

He deflected a Phillips's clearance which bounced back from the bar, and Delap began to celebrate believing the ball had crossed the line. It had not, and by the time he understood, Hull's backline had responded to clear the threat.

The player had his head in his hands after that moment, but he was immensely instrumental from that point onward, providing 3 assists. The first was for the opening goal as his pass teed up his teammate to finish from range. Six minutes after the second half began, it was 2-0 as Neto's set-piece went directly in through the keeper's legs.

Tie Sealed and Attention Turns

Seven minutes after the second, the tie was effectively ended as a magnificent run from Delap laid on Estêvão to tap into an unguarded goal. Neto then finished his hat-trick as Delap once again delivered the decisive ball for the striker to coolly convert past a helpless Phillips.

By that stage, the effort Hull had put in in the opening half-hour had been forgotten. Their focus must now switch back to achieving a return to the Premier League under their manager, who left out a number of key players with that aim in mind.

"I think we earned at least one goal but if we play like this we will be in a very good situation in the Championship," he said. "Keep fighting, maybe in the upcoming matches this can be a positive example of how we must play."

There was plenty of endeavour to the end, and they almost got a consolation when a substitute struck a the upright in injury time. But this was Chelsea’s evening, and another encouraging step forward for their recently-appointed head coach at a place he is familiar with intimately.

Cup History Look Promising

The result resulted in an in the end routine evening’s performance, and the cup competition signs are positive from here for the winners. They have played Hull on three previous occasions in this competition in the past ten years and on each occasion, they have gone on to reach the final. There is remains to be done in that regard, but this was another significant tick for the Chelsea boss.