🔗 Share this article

Amid freezing rain, snow, and a biting breeze off the banks of the Humber, alongside a resolute home side pushing hard for promotion, this presented all the makings of a challenging night's task for the visitors.

"We could have added to our tally but Hull are a good team and it was a tough tie; I am delighted 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 supporters. The attitude of the players was superb."

Liam Rosenior has this city close to his heart, given some of his relatives hail from Hull and his enjoyable spell in management of the Tigers. His positive connection was extended with a commanding display from his squad, who in the end sauntered into the next round of the famous old competition.

Clinical Edge Seals Comprehensive Victory

Three days after letting slip a 2-0 advantage in the Premier League, there was a hint of fragility about Chelsea going into this potentially tricky tie. The capacity home crowd evidently sensed it too, but Rosenior's men handled the task with ease.

Rosenior rang the changes, making seven of them to his XI. The tie could and perhaps ought to have been decided earlier than it eventually was, with both the Brazilian winger and the forward at fault for missing excellent chances to put Chelsea in front in the first half.

But, fortunately for the visitors, Pedro Neto was in a far more ruthless mood. He opened the deadlock with a spectacular distance strike, which acted as the catalyst for his team to assume command of proceedings. By full time, they had 4 goals, with the forward netting a trio of them for a brilliant hat-trick.

The Forward's Response and Influence

The home side showed plenty of fight all game, but the clearer opportunities consistently came to the visitors. The winger should have broken the scoring when he went past keeper the Hull stopper before unbelievably firing over. The striker then had a comparable horror moment in front of goal against his former club.

He blocked a Phillips's clearance which bounced off the crossbar, and he began to celebrate believing the ball had crossed the line. It hadn’t, and by the time he understood, Hull's backline had responded to avert the threat.

The player had his head in his hands after that miss, but he was hugely instrumental from that point onward, providing 3 assists. The first was for the opening goal as his through ball set up his teammate to finish from outside the box. Six minutes after the second half began, it was two as Neto's set-piece went straight in under the keeper's legs.

Contest Sealed and Focus Shifts

Seven minutes after Neto’s second, the tie was put beyond doubt as a dazzling run from Delap teed up Estêvão to tap into an empty net. The hat-trick hero then completed his hat-trick as Delap once again delivered the crucial pass for the striker to coolly convert past a helpless goalkeeper.

At that point, the effort Hull had done in the opening half-hour had long since erased. Their focus must now switch back to securing a promotion to the top division under their manager, who rested several key individuals with that goal in mind.

"I think we deserved at least one goal but if we play like this we will be in a very good position in the league," he said. "Never surrender, maybe in the upcoming games this can be a good example of how we must play."

Hull showed plenty of effort to the end, and they almost got a consolation when Lewis Koumas hit a post in stoppage time. But this was Chelsea’s night, and another positive step forward for their new head coach at a place he knows very well.

FA Cup Omens Are Promising

The result made for an in the end straightforward evening’s work, and the FA Cup-shaped omens are good from here for the winners. They have faced Hull on three other times in this competition in the past ten years and every single time, they have gone on to reach the final. There is remains to be work in that regard, but this was another significant tick for the Chelsea boss.