🔗 Share this article

Against a backdrop of sleet, snow, and a biting breeze off the banks of the Humber Estuary, combined with a resolute Hull City side pushing hard for promotion, this had all the ingredients of a challenging night's task for the visitors.

"We could have added to our tally but the opposition are a strong team and it was a tough fixture; I’m delighted with the display," he said. "Hull City is very special to me so it was nice to get a positive reception from both sets of supporters. The attitude of the lads was superb."

Liam Rosenior holds this place close to his heart, considering some of his relatives hail from Hull and his enjoyable period in charge of the Championship club. His positive connection was extended with a magnificent performance from his squad, who ultimately sauntered into the next round of the famous old competition.

Clinical Finishing Secures Comprehensive Win

Seventy-two hours removed from surrendering a 2-0 advantage in the Premier League, there was a sniff of fragility about them going into this potentially tricky cup clash. The capacity home crowd evidently sensed it too, but the London side navigated the task perfectly.

The manager made alterations, making seven of them to his starting lineup. The tie might and maybe should have been decided long before it eventually was, with two the Brazilian winger and the forward guilty of spurning glorious opportunities to put Chelsea in front in the opening period.

However, fortunately for the visitors, their Portuguese attacker was in a much more clinical frame of mind. He broke the deadlock with a marvellous distance effort, which acted as the spark for Chelsea to take control of proceedings. By full time, they had four, with the forward scoring a trio of them for a superb hat-trick.

Delap's Response and Impact

Hull showed plenty of fight all game, but the better chances consistently fell Chelsea’s way. The winger ought to have opened the deadlock when he rounded goalkeeper Dillon Phillips before inexplicably firing over. Delap then had a comparable horror incident in front of goal against his former club.

He deflected a the goalkeeper's kick which bounced back from the crossbar, and he began to celebrate thinking the ball had gone over the line. It hadn’t, and by the time he realised, Hull's defenders had reacted to avert the threat.

The player had his head in his hands after that moment, but he was hugely instrumental from that point onward, providing three assists. The first was for the first goal as his pass set up Neto to finish from outside the box. Shortly after the second half began, it was 2-0 as Neto's set-piece went directly in under the keeper's legs.

Contest Sealed and Attention Turns

Seven minutes after Neto’s second goal, the tie was put beyond doubt as a magnificent dribble from Delap laid on his teammate to tap into an unguarded goal. Neto then completed his treble as the provider again delivered the decisive pass for the attacker to calmly convert past a helpless Phillips.

By that stage, the effort 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 left out a number of first-choice players with that goal in mind.

"In my opinion we earned at least one goal but if we play like this we will be in a very good situation in the Championship," the Hull manager commented. "Keep fighting, maybe in the next matches this can be a good example of how we should play."

There was plenty of endeavour to the final whistle, and they nearly claimed a late goal when a substitute hit a the upright in injury time. But this was Chelsea’s night, and another encouraging stride for their recently-appointed head coach at a stadium he knows intimately.

Cup History Look Good

The result made for an ultimately routine night's work, and the FA Cup-shaped signs are good from here for the winners. They have played Hull on three previous occasions in this competition in the last decade and on each occasion, they have progressed to make the final. There is still done in that regard, but this was another significant tick for Rosenior.