🔗 Share this article

Amid sleet, snow, and a biting wind off the waters of the Humber Estuary, combined with a resolute Hull City side pushing hard for a top-flight place, this presented all the makings of a difficult evening’s task for Chelsea.

"We could have scored more but the opposition are a strong team and it was a tough tie; I am very pleased with the display," the manager stated. "This club is very special to me so it was great to get a good reception from both sets of fans. The attitude of the lads was excellent."

The Chelsea manager holds this city dear to him, given part of his relatives are from Hull and his enjoyable period in charge of the Tigers. His positive connection was extended with a magnificent display from his squad, who in the end sauntered into the fifth round of the famous old competition.

Clinical Edge Secures Comfortable Victory

Seventy-two hours removed from surrendering a two-goal advantage in the Premier League, there was a hint of vulnerability about Chelsea going into this potentially tricky cup clash. The packed Hull crowd clearly sensed it too, but the London side handled the task perfectly.

Rosenior rang the changes, making multiple of them to his starting lineup. The tie could and maybe ought to have been decided long before it actually was, with two the Brazilian winger and Liam Delap at fault for spurning glorious opportunities to put Chelsea ahead in the first half.

But, fortunately for the away team, Pedro Neto was in a much more clinical mood. He broke the scoring with a spectacular long-range effort, which acted as the catalyst for his team to assume control of proceedings. By the final whistle, they had 4 goals, with the forward scoring three of them for a superb three-goal haul.

The Forward's Response and Influence

The home side showed plenty of spirit all game, but the clearer opportunities consistently came Chelsea’s way. The winger ought to have opened the scoring when he went past keeper Dillon Phillips before unbelievably shooting over. Delap then had a similar horror incident in front of goal against his old team.

He deflected a Phillips's kick which bounced back from the crossbar, and he started to celebrate believing the ball had gone over the line. It hadn’t, and by the time he understood, Hull's defenders had responded to clear the threat.

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

Tie Sealed and Focus Shifts

Soon after Neto’s second goal, the match was effectively ended as a magnificent dribble from the forward laid on his teammate to slide into an unguarded goal. The hat-trick hero then completed his hat-trick as Delap once again played the decisive pass for the attacker to calmly slot by a helpless goalkeeper.

At that point, the effort Hull had put in in the opening thirty minutes had been erased. Their priority must now return to achieving a promotion to the Premier League under Sergej Jakirovic, who rested several first-choice players with that aim in mind.

"In my opinion we earned at least one goal but if we perform like this we will be in a very good position in the Championship," he said. "Keep fighting, maybe in the upcoming games this can be a good example of how we must play."

Hull showed great effort to the end, and they nearly got a late goal when a substitute hit a post in injury time. But this was the Blues' night, and another positive step forward for their new manager at a place he is familiar with intimately.

FA Cup History Look Promising

That resulted in an in the end straightforward evening’s performance, and the cup competition omens are positive from here for Chelsea. They have faced Hull on three previous times in this competition in the last decade and every single time, they have progressed to reach the showpiece. There is remains to be work in that respect, but this was another significant tick for Rosenior.