🔗 Share this article

Against a backdrop of sleet, flurries, and a biting wind off the waters of the Humber, combined with a determined home side fighting for promotion, this presented all the ingredients of a challenging night's task for Chelsea.

"We might have scored more but the opposition are a good team and it was a difficult fixture; I’m delighted with the performance," the manager stated. "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 lads was superb."

Liam Rosenior holds this city close to his heart, given part of his relatives are from Hull and his enjoyable period in management of the Tigers. This happy connection continued with a magnificent display from his team, who ultimately sauntered into the next round of the famous old competition.

Clinical Edge Secures Comprehensive Win

Seventy-two hours removed from letting slip a two-goal advantage in the league, there was a hint of vulnerability about them going into this potentially tricky tie. The capacity home support evidently sensed it too, but the London side handled the challenge perfectly.

The manager rang the changes, enacting multiple of them to his XI. The match might and perhaps ought to have been decided long before it actually was, with two Estêvão Willian and Liam Delap guilty of missing excellent chances to put Chelsea ahead in the first half.

But, fortunately for the visitors, Pedro Neto was in a much more ruthless mood. He opened the deadlock with a marvellous distance strike, which acted as the catalyst for Chelsea to take command of proceedings. By full time, they had 4 goals, with the forward netting three of them for a brilliant three-goal haul.

The Forward's Redemption and Impact

The home side displayed plenty of spirit all game, but the clearer opportunities consistently fell to the visitors. Estêvão should have broken the deadlock when he rounded keeper the Hull stopper before unbelievably firing over. Delap then had a similar nightmare moment in front of goal against his former club.

He blocked a the goalkeeper's clearance which bounced back from the crossbar, and Delap started to celebrate believing the ball had gone over the line. It had not, and by the time he realised, Hull's backline had reacted to clear the threat.

Delap had his head in his hands after that miss, but he was hugely influential from that point onward, registering three assists. The opening was for the first goal as his through ball set up Neto to score from range. Six minutes after the second half began, it was 2-0 as the forward's corner went directly in under the keeper's legs.

Tie Sealed and Focus Shifts

Soon after Neto’s second goal, the match was put beyond doubt as a dazzling run from Delap teed up Estêvão to slide into an unguarded goal. Neto then completed his treble as the provider again played the crucial pass for the striker to calmly convert past a stranded goalkeeper.

By that stage, the work Hull had done in the opening half-hour had been erased. Their priority must now return to securing a promotion to the top division under Sergej Jakirovic, who rested several first-choice players with that aim 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 Championship," he said. "Never surrender, maybe in the upcoming matches this can be a positive lesson of how we should play."

Hull showed plenty of effort to the end, and they almost claimed a late goal when Lewis Koumas struck a the upright in stoppage time. But this was the Blues' evening, and another encouraging stride for their recently-appointed manager at a stadium he knows intimately.

FA Cup Omens Are Good

That made for an ultimately routine night's work, and the cup competition signs are positive from here for Chelsea. They have faced Hull on three other times in this tournament in the last decade and on each occasion, they have gone on to make the final. Much remains to be work in that regard, but this was another huge positive for the Chelsea boss.