🔗 Share this article

Amid sleet, flurries, and a biting wind off the banks of the Humber, combined with a determined home side fighting for promotion, this presented all the makings of a difficult night's task for Chelsea.

"We might have scored more but Hull are a good team and it was a tough fixture; I’m delighted with the display," the manager stated. "Hull City means a lot to me so it was nice to get a positive reception from both sets of fans. The attitude of the players was superb."

The Rosenior has this place close to his heart, given part of his family are from Hull and his successful period in management of the Tigers. His positive connection continued with a magnificent display from his squad, who ultimately strolled into the fifth round of the FA Cup.

Deadly Edge Seals Comfortable Victory

Three days removed from letting slip a 2-0 lead in the Premier League, there was a sniff of vulnerability about them going into this intriguing tie. The capacity Hull support evidently felt it too, but Rosenior's men handled the task perfectly.

The manager made alterations, making multiple 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 Liam Delap at fault for missing excellent chances to put Chelsea in front in the opening period.

But, luckily for the visitors, their Portuguese attacker was in a far more ruthless frame of mind. He opened the deadlock with a marvellous long-range strike, which acted as the catalyst for Chelsea to assume command of proceedings. By the final whistle, they had 4 goals, with Neto scoring three of them for a superb three-goal haul.

The Forward's Redemption and Impact

Hull showed great spirit all game, but the better opportunities always fell to the visitors. The winger should have broken the scoring when he rounded goalkeeper Dillon Phillips before inexplicably firing over. The striker then had a similar horror incident in front of goal against his old team.

He blocked a Phillips's clearance which came back from the crossbar, and Delap began to celebrate believing the ball had gone over the line. It had not, and by the time he understood, Hull's defenders had responded to avert the threat.

Delap had his head in his hands after that miss, but he was hugely influential from there on out, registering three assists. The first was for the opening goal as his pass set up Neto to finish from outside the box. Six minutes after the second half began, it was two as Neto's set-piece went straight in under Phillips's legs.

Contest Sealed and Focus Turns

Seven minutes after Neto’s second, the tie was put beyond doubt as a magnificent dribble from the forward teed up Estêvão to tap into an unguarded goal. Neto then completed his treble as Delap once again delivered the crucial ball for the striker to coolly convert past a stranded goalkeeper.

By that stage, the effort Hull had put in in the first thirty minutes had been forgotten. Their focus must now switch back to securing a promotion to the Premier League under Sergej Jakirovic, who rested several key 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 very good position in the Championship," he said. "Never surrender, maybe in the next games this can be a good lesson of how we should play."

Hull showed plenty of effort to the final whistle, and they nearly got a late goal when a substitute hit a the upright in injury time. But this was Chelsea’s evening, and another encouraging stride for their new manager at a place he knows very well.

FA Cup History Look Good

That resulted in an in the end routine evening’s work, and the FA Cup-shaped omens are positive from here for Chelsea. They have played Hull on three other occasions in this tournament in the past ten years and on each occasion, they have gone on to make the showpiece. There is remains to be done in that regard, but this was another significant positive for Rosenior.