🔗 Share this article

Amid sleet, flurries, and a biting wind from the banks of the Humber, combined with a resolute Hull City side pushing hard for a top-flight place, this had all the makings of a challenging evening’s task for the visitors.

"We might have scored more but the opposition are a good team and it was a tough fixture; I am very pleased with the display," he said. "This club 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."

The Chelsea manager has this place dear to him, given some of his family hail from Hull and his successful period in management of the Championship club. His happy connection continued with a magnificent display from his team, who in the end strolled into the next round of the famous old competition.

Deadly Finishing Secures Comprehensive Victory

Seventy-two hours removed from letting slip a two-goal lead in the league, there was a hint of fragility about them going into this intriguing cup clash. The capacity home crowd evidently sensed it too, but the London side handled the task with ease.

Rosenior rang the changes, enacting seven of them to his XI. The tie might and maybe ought to have been settled long before it actually was, with both Estêvão Willian and Liam Delap guilty of missing excellent chances to put their side ahead in the first half.

But, fortunately for the visitors, their Portuguese attacker was in a much more clinical mood. He opened the scoring with a marvellous distance effort, which acted as the catalyst for Chelsea to assume command of proceedings. By the final whistle, they had 4 goals, with Neto scoring a trio of them for a superb three-goal haul.

Delap's Response and Influence

Hull displayed great spirit throughout, but the better chances always came to the visitors. Estêvão should have opened the deadlock when he rounded keeper Dillon Phillips before inexplicably firing over. The striker then had a similar nightmare moment in front of goal against his former club.

He deflected a Phillips's clearance which came back from the bar, and Delap began to celebrate believing the ball had gone over the line. It had not, and by the time he understood, Hull's backline had responded to avert the danger.

The player had his head in his hands after that miss, but he was hugely instrumental from that point onward, providing 3 key passes. The opening was for the first goal as his through ball teed up Neto to score from range. Six minutes after the restart, it was two as the forward's corner went directly in under Phillips's legs.

Tie Sealed and Attention Shifts

Soon after the second goal, the tie was put beyond doubt as a dazzling dribble from the forward laid on Estêvão to slide into an empty net. Neto then completed his hat-trick as Delap again delivered the decisive pass for the striker to calmly convert by a helpless Phillips.

By that stage, the work Hull had put in in the opening thirty minutes had long since forgotten. Their focus must now return to achieving a promotion to the Premier League under Sergej Jakirovic, who rested several key players 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 very good situation in the league," he said. "Never surrender, maybe in the upcoming games this can be a good lesson of how we should play."

Hull showed plenty of endeavour to the end, and they nearly got a late goal when Lewis Koumas struck a the upright in injury time. But this was Chelsea’s evening, and another encouraging step forward for their new head coach at a place he is familiar with very well.

Cup Omens Are Promising

The result resulted in an ultimately straightforward evening’s performance, and the FA Cup-shaped 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 gone on to make the final. There is remains to be done in that respect, but this was another huge positive for the Chelsea boss.