🔗 Share this article

Against a backdrop of sleet, snow, and a swirling breeze off the waters of the Humber Estuary, combined with a resolute home side fighting for promotion, this presented all the makings of a difficult evening’s task for the visitors.

"We might have scored more but the opposition are a strong team and it was a tough fixture; I am delighted with the display," he said. "This club is very special to me so it was nice to get a positive reception from the fans of fans. The application of the players was superb."

Liam Rosenior has this place close to his heart, considering part of his relatives hail from Hull and his enjoyable spell in charge of the Tigers. This happy association was extended with a magnificent display from his squad, who in the end sauntered into the fifth round of the FA Cup.

Deadly Edge Secures Comfortable Win

Three days removed from letting slip a 2-0 advantage in the league, there was a hint of fragility about Chelsea going into this intriguing tie. The packed home crowd evidently felt it too, but Rosenior's men handled the challenge perfectly.

Rosenior rang the changes, making multiple of them to his starting lineup. The match could and maybe ought to have been decided earlier than it actually was, with both the Brazilian winger and the forward guilty of spurning glorious opportunities to put their side ahead in the opening period.

But, luckily for the away team, their Portuguese attacker was in a much more ruthless frame of mind. He opened the deadlock with a spectacular long-range strike, which acted as the spark for Chelsea to assume control of proceedings. By the final whistle, they had 4 goals, with Neto scoring three of them for a brilliant hat-trick.

The Forward's Redemption and Influence

Hull displayed plenty of fight throughout, but the better chances always came to the visitors. The winger ought to have broken the deadlock when he went past keeper Dillon Phillips before inexplicably firing over. The striker then had a similar horror moment in front of goal against his former club.

He deflected a Phillips's kick which bounced back from the crossbar, and Delap started to run away thinking the ball had crossed the line. It had not, and by the time he understood, Hull's backline had reacted to avert the threat.

Delap had his head in his hands after that moment, but he was immensely instrumental from that point onward, registering three assists. The first was for the first goal as his through ball teed up his teammate to finish from outside the box. Shortly after the second half began, it was two as Neto's corner went straight in through Phillips's legs.

Tie Sealed and Focus Turns

Soon after the second, the match was effectively ended as a magnificent dribble from the forward laid on Estêvão to tap into an empty net. The hat-trick hero then finished his hat-trick as Delap again played the crucial pass for the striker to coolly slot by a stranded Phillips.

At that point, the work Hull had put in in the opening half-hour had long since forgotten. Their priority must now return to achieving a promotion to the Premier League under Sergej Jakirovic, who left out several key individuals with that goal in mind.

"In my opinion we deserved at least one goal but if we play like this we will be in a strong position in the league," the Hull manager commented. "Keep fighting, maybe in the upcoming games this can be a positive lesson of how we must play."

There was plenty of endeavour to the end, and they almost got a consolation when Lewis Koumas struck a post in stoppage time. But this was Chelsea’s night, and another encouraging stride for their new head coach at a place he knows very well.

Cup History Are Promising

The result resulted in an in the end routine night's performance, and the FA Cup-shaped signs are good from here for Chelsea. They have played Hull on three previous times in this tournament in the last decade and every single time, they have gone on to make the showpiece. Much remains to be done in that regard, but this was another huge positive for Rosenior.