🔗 Share this article

Amid sleet, snow, and a swirling wind from the waters of the Humber Estuary, combined with a determined home side fighting for a top-flight place, this presented all the ingredients of a difficult night's work for the visitors.

"We might have added to our tally but Hull are a strong team and it was a difficult fixture; I am delighted with the performance," he said. "Hull City is very special to me so it was great to get a positive reception from both sets of supporters. The application of the players was superb."

The Rosenior has this city close to his heart, given part of his family are from Hull and his successful period in management of the Tigers. This happy association was extended with a magnificent display from his team, who ultimately sauntered into the fifth round of the FA Cup.

Deadly Finishing Secures Comprehensive Win

Three days removed from letting slip a two-goal advantage in the league, there was a hint of vulnerability about Chelsea going into this potentially tricky cup clash. The capacity Hull crowd clearly sensed it too, but Rosenior's men handled the task with ease.

The manager made alterations, making multiple of them to his starting lineup. The match might and maybe should have been settled long before it actually was, with two the Brazilian winger and Liam Delap guilty of missing glorious chances to put Chelsea ahead in the opening period.

However, fortunately for the visitors, Pedro Neto was in a far more ruthless frame of mind. He broke the scoring with a marvellous long-range strike, which acted as the spark for Chelsea to assume command of proceedings. By full time, they had 4 goals, with Neto scoring three of them for a superb hat-trick.

The Forward's Redemption and Impact

The home side displayed plenty of fight throughout, but the better opportunities always came Chelsea’s way. Estêvão should have opened the deadlock when he went past keeper the Hull stopper before unbelievably shooting over. Delap then had a similar nightmare incident in front of goal against his former club.

He deflected a the goalkeeper's kick which came off the crossbar, and he started to celebrate believing the ball had gone over the line. It had not, and by the time he realised, Hull's backline had responded to avert the threat.

Delap had his head in his hands after that miss, but he was immensely instrumental from there on out, providing three key passes. The first was for the first goal as his through ball teed up Neto to finish from outside the box. Shortly after the restart, it was 2-0 as the forward's corner went straight in under Phillips's legs.

Tie Sealed and Focus Turns

Soon after the second, the tie was put beyond doubt as a dazzling run from the forward teed up Estêvão to slide into an empty net. Neto then completed his hat-trick as the provider once again delivered the decisive pass for the striker to calmly convert by a helpless Phillips.

At that point, the work Hull had done in the opening thirty minutes had been forgotten. Their priority must now switch back to securing a return to the top division under Sergej Jakirovic, who rested a number of first-choice individuals with that aim 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 Championship," the Hull manager commented. "Keep fighting, maybe in the next games this can be a positive lesson of how we should play."

Hull showed plenty of effort to the final whistle, and they almost got a late goal when Lewis Koumas hit a post in stoppage time. But this was Chelsea’s evening, and another encouraging stride for their new manager at a place he knows intimately.

Cup History Look Good

That made for an in the end straightforward evening’s performance, and the cup competition signs are good from here for the winners. They have faced Hull on three previous times in this competition in the last decade and every single time, they have gone on to make the final. There is remains to be done in that regard, but this was another significant positive for the Chelsea boss.