🔗 Share this article

Against a backdrop of sleet, flurries, and a biting wind from the banks of the Humber Estuary, alongside a resolute Hull City side pushing hard for promotion, this presented all the ingredients of a challenging evening’s work for the visitors.

"We could have added to our tally but Hull are a good team and it was a tough tie; I’m delighted with the display," the manager stated. "Hull City is very special to me so it was great to get a positive reception from both sets of fans. The application of the players was excellent."

Liam Rosenior holds this city close to his heart, considering some of his relatives are from Hull and his successful period in charge of the Tigers. This positive association was extended with a magnificent performance from his squad, who in the end sauntered into the fifth round of the famous old competition.

Clinical Edge Seals Comfortable Victory

Three days after surrendering a two-goal advantage in the Premier League, there was a sniff of fragility about them going into this intriguing cup clash. The packed home crowd clearly felt it too, but the London side handled the task perfectly.

Rosenior rang the changes, enacting seven of them to his starting lineup. The match could and perhaps ought to have been decided long before it eventually was, with two Estêvão Willian and Liam Delap at fault for missing glorious chances to put their side in front in the opening period.

But, fortunately for the away team, their Portuguese attacker was in a far more clinical mood. He opened the scoring with a spectacular long-range strike, which proved to be the spark for his team to assume command of proceedings. By the final whistle, they had four, with Neto scoring a trio of them for a brilliant three-goal haul.

The Forward's Response and Impact

The home side showed great fight throughout, but the clearer opportunities always fell Chelsea’s way. Estêvão should have opened the deadlock when he went past keeper Dillon Phillips before inexplicably shooting over. The striker then had a comparable horror incident in front of goal against his old team.

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

Delap had his head in his hands after that moment, but he was immensely instrumental from that point onward, providing three assists. The opening was for the opening goal as his pass set up his teammate to finish from outside the box. Six minutes after the second half began, it was two as the forward's corner went directly in under the keeper's legs.

Tie Put Beyond Doubt and Focus Shifts

Seven minutes after Neto’s second, the tie was put beyond doubt as a dazzling run from Delap teed up Estêvão to slide into an unguarded goal. Neto then completed his hat-trick as the provider once again delivered the decisive pass for the attacker to coolly slot past a stranded Phillips.

At that point, the work Hull had done in the opening half-hour had been forgotten. Their priority must now return to achieving a promotion to the top division under Sergej Jakirovic, who left out several key players with that goal in mind.

"I think we deserved at least one goal but if we perform like this we will be in a strong position in the league," he said. "Never surrender, maybe in the next games this can be a positive example of how we must play."

There was great effort to the end, and they nearly got a consolation when a substitute struck a the upright in stoppage time. But this was the Blues' evening, and another positive step forward for their new head coach at a stadium he knows very well.

FA Cup History Look Good

That resulted in an ultimately routine evening’s performance, and the FA Cup-shaped omens are good from here for the winners. They have played Hull on three previous times in this competition in the last decade and every single time, they have progressed to make the final. Much still done in that regard, but this was another significant tick for the Chelsea boss.