🔗 Share this article

Amid sleet, flurries, and a swirling breeze off the waters of the Humber, combined with a resolute Hull City side pushing hard for promotion, this had all the makings of a challenging night's work for Chelsea.

"We might have added to our tally but Hull are a strong team and it was a difficult fixture; I am delighted with the display," the manager stated. "Hull City means a lot to me so it was great to get a good reception from the fans of fans. The attitude of the players was excellent."

The Rosenior holds this place dear to him, given part of his relatives hail from Hull and his enjoyable period in charge of the Tigers. This positive connection continued with a commanding display from his team, who ultimately sauntered into the next round of the FA Cup.

Clinical Edge Secures Comfortable Win

Three days removed from letting slip a two-goal lead in the Premier League, there was a sniff of fragility about Chelsea going into this intriguing cup clash. The capacity home crowd evidently sensed it too, but the London side handled the task with ease.

The manager rang the changes, enacting seven of them to his starting lineup. The match could and maybe ought to have been settled long before it eventually was, with both Estêvão Willian and the forward at fault for missing excellent chances to put their side in front in the opening period.

But, luckily for the visitors, Pedro Neto was in a far more ruthless frame of mind. He broke the deadlock with a marvellous distance strike, which acted as the spark for Chelsea to assume command of the match. By the final whistle, they had 4 goals, with the forward netting three of them for a brilliant three-goal haul.

Delap's Redemption and Impact

The home side displayed great spirit throughout, but the better opportunities consistently came to the visitors. Estêvão should have opened the deadlock when he went past goalkeeper Dillon Phillips before inexplicably firing over. The striker then had a comparable horror moment in front of goal against his old team.

He blocked a Phillips's kick which bounced back from the crossbar, and he started to celebrate thinking the ball had crossed the line. It had not, and by the time he realised, Hull's defenders had reacted to avert the danger.

The player had his head in his hands after that miss, but he was immensely instrumental from there on out, providing 3 key passes. The first was for the first goal as his through ball set up Neto to finish from range. Shortly after the second half began, it was 2-0 as Neto's corner went directly in under the keeper's legs.

Tie Put Beyond Doubt and Focus Turns

Soon after Neto’s second, the match was put beyond doubt as a dazzling run from the forward teed up Estêvão to slide into an unguarded goal. The hat-trick hero then completed his treble as the provider again delivered the crucial pass for the striker to coolly convert by a helpless goalkeeper.

At that point, the effort Hull had put in in the opening half-hour had been forgotten. Their priority must now switch back to achieving a promotion to the top division under their manager, who rested a number of first-choice players with that aim in mind.

"In my opinion we earned at least one goal but if we play like this we will be in a strong situation in the Championship," he said. "Never surrender, maybe in the next games this can be a good lesson of how we must play."

Hull showed great endeavour to the end, and they almost claimed a consolation when Lewis Koumas struck a the upright in stoppage time. But this was Chelsea’s night, and another encouraging stride for their recently-appointed manager at a stadium he is familiar with intimately.

FA Cup History Look Promising

That resulted in an ultimately straightforward night's work, and the FA Cup-shaped omens are positive from here for the winners. They have faced Hull on three other occasions in this tournament in the past ten years and every single time, they have progressed to make the showpiece. There is remains to be done in that regard, but this was another huge tick for the Chelsea boss.