🔗 Share this article

Amid freezing rain, flurries, and a biting wind from the waters of the Humber, combined with a resolute Hull City side fighting for a top-flight place, this had all the makings of a difficult evening’s task for Chelsea.

"We could have added to our tally but the opposition are a strong team and it was a difficult tie; I’m very pleased with the display," he said. "Hull City means a lot to me so it was nice to get a positive welcome from the fans of fans. The attitude of the players was excellent."

Liam Rosenior holds this city dear to him, given some of his relatives are from Hull and his enjoyable period in charge of the Championship club. His happy association was extended with a magnificent display from his team, who in the end sauntered into the fifth round of the famous old competition.

Clinical Finishing Seals Comfortable Win

Three days removed from surrendering a 2-0 advantage in the Premier League, there was a hint of fragility about Chelsea going into this potentially tricky cup clash. The capacity home crowd clearly felt it too, but the London side navigated the task perfectly.

The manager made alterations, making seven of them to his XI. The tie could and maybe should have been settled earlier than it eventually was, with both the Brazilian winger and Liam Delap at fault for spurning glorious chances to put their side ahead in the opening period.

But, luckily for the visitors, their Portuguese attacker was in a far more clinical frame of mind. He opened the scoring with a spectacular long-range strike, which proved to be the spark for Chelsea to assume control of the match. By the final whistle, they had four, with the forward netting three of them for a superb hat-trick.

The Forward's Response and Impact

The home side displayed great fight throughout, but the clearer chances consistently came to the visitors. Estêvão should have opened the deadlock when he went past keeper the Hull stopper before unbelievably shooting over. Delap then had a similar horror moment in front of goal against his former club.

He deflected a Phillips's clearance which bounced off the bar, and he started to run away thinking the ball had gone over the line. It hadn’t, and by the time he realised, Hull's backline had reacted to avert the danger.

The player had his head in his hands after that moment, but he was immensely influential from that point onward, registering 3 key passes. The opening was for the first goal as his through ball set up his teammate to score from range. Six minutes after the second half began, it was 2-0 as the forward's set-piece went straight in under Phillips's legs.

Contest Sealed and Attention Shifts

Soon after Neto’s second, the match was put beyond doubt as a dazzling dribble from Delap laid on Estêvão to tap into an unguarded goal. Neto then completed his treble as Delap again delivered the crucial pass for the striker to coolly slot past a helpless goalkeeper.

By that stage, the effort Hull had put in in the opening half-hour had been erased. Their focus must now switch back to securing a return to the Premier League under Sergej Jakirovic, who left out several key individuals with that aim in mind.

"In my opinion we deserved at least one goal but if we perform like this we will be in a strong situation in the Championship," he said. "Keep fighting, maybe in the upcoming matches this can be a good example of how we must play."

Hull showed great endeavour to the end, and they almost got a late goal when a substitute struck a the upright in stoppage time. But this was Chelsea’s evening, and another encouraging stride for their recently-appointed head coach at a stadium he is familiar with intimately.

FA Cup History Are Good

The result made for an ultimately routine evening’s work, and the cup competition omens are positive from here for the winners. They have faced Hull on three previous times in this tournament in the last decade and on each occasion, they have progressed to reach the final. Much remains to be done in that regard, but this was another huge positive for the Chelsea boss.