🔗 Share this article

Amid sleet, snow, and a swirling breeze off the banks of the Humber Estuary, combined with a resolute home side fighting for a top-flight place, this had all the ingredients of a challenging evening’s work for Chelsea.

"We might have scored more but Hull are a good team and it was a difficult tie; I am delighted with the performance," he said. "This club is very special to me so it was nice to get a positive welcome from the fans of supporters. The attitude of the lads was excellent."

The Chelsea manager has this place dear to him, considering part of his family are from Hull and his enjoyable spell in management of the Championship club. This happy association was extended with a commanding performance from his squad, who in the end sauntered into the fifth round of the FA Cup.

Deadly Finishing Secures Comprehensive Victory

Seventy-two hours after surrendering a two-goal lead in the league, there was a sniff of fragility about Chelsea going into this intriguing tie. The packed home crowd evidently sensed it too, but the London side navigated the challenge perfectly.

The manager rang the changes, enacting seven of them to his XI. The match could and perhaps ought to have been decided long before it actually was, with both Estêvão Willian and the forward at fault for missing excellent opportunities to put Chelsea in front in the opening period.

However, luckily for the away team, their Portuguese attacker was in a far more clinical frame of mind. He broke the scoring with a spectacular distance strike, which proved to be the spark for his team to assume command of the match. By the final whistle, they had 4 goals, with the forward scoring a trio of them for a brilliant three-goal haul.

The Forward's Redemption and Impact

The home side showed great fight throughout, but the clearer opportunities consistently came Chelsea’s way. The winger ought to have opened the deadlock when he rounded keeper Dillon Phillips before unbelievably shooting over. The striker then had a comparable nightmare moment in front of goal against his old team.

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

Delap had his head in his hands after that miss, but he was hugely influential from that point onward, registering 3 key passes. The opening was for the first goal as his through ball teed up his teammate to score from outside the box. Six minutes after the restart, it was two as Neto's corner went directly in through Phillips's legs.

Contest Sealed and Focus Turns

Soon after Neto’s second, the tie was put beyond doubt as a magnificent run from the forward teed up his teammate to tap into an unguarded goal. Neto then finished his treble as the provider again delivered the crucial pass for the attacker to calmly slot by a helpless Phillips.

At that point, the work Hull had put in in the opening half-hour had long since forgotten. Their priority must now switch back to securing a return to the Premier League under their manager, who rested a number of first-choice players with that aim in mind.

"I think we deserved at least one goal but if we play like this we will be in a strong position in the Championship," the Hull manager commented. "Keep fighting, maybe in the next games this can be a positive lesson of how we must play."

There was plenty of endeavour to the final whistle, and they almost claimed a consolation 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 place he knows intimately.

FA Cup Omens Look Good

The result resulted in an in the end straightforward evening’s performance, and the FA Cup-shaped signs are positive from here for the winners. They have played Hull on three previous occasions in this competition in the past ten years and every single time, they have progressed to reach the final. Much still done in that respect, but this was another huge positive for Rosenior.