🔗 Share this article

Amid sleet, snow, and a swirling breeze from the banks of the Humber, alongside a determined home side pushing hard for promotion, this presented all the makings of a challenging night's task for Chelsea.

"We might have scored more but Hull are a good team and it was a tough tie; I’m very pleased with the performance," he said. "This club means a lot to me so it was nice to get a good welcome from the fans of supporters. The application of the players was excellent."

The Rosenior has this city dear to him, considering part of his family hail from Hull and his enjoyable period in charge of the Tigers. This happy association was extended with a commanding display from his team, who ultimately sauntered into the next round of the famous old competition.

Clinical Edge Seals Comfortable Victory

Three days removed from surrendering a 2-0 lead in the league, there was a sniff of vulnerability about Chelsea going into this potentially tricky cup clash. The packed Hull crowd clearly felt it too, but the London side navigated the task perfectly.

Rosenior rang the changes, making seven of them to his starting lineup. The tie might and perhaps should have been decided earlier than it actually was, with both the Brazilian winger and the forward guilty of missing glorious chances to put Chelsea in front in the opening period.

But, fortunately for the away team, Pedro Neto was in a far more clinical frame of mind. He opened the scoring with a spectacular distance effort, which proved to be the spark for his team to take command of the match. By full time, they had four, with the forward scoring a trio of them for a superb hat-trick.

The Forward's Response and Influence

Hull showed plenty of spirit all game, but the clearer chances consistently came Chelsea’s way. Estêvão should have broken the deadlock when he rounded 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 clearance which bounced back from the crossbar, and he began to celebrate believing the ball had gone over the line. It hadn’t, and by the time he understood, Hull's backline had reacted to clear the threat.

The player had his head in his hands after that miss, but he was immensely instrumental from there on out, providing 3 assists. The opening was for the opening goal as his pass set up his teammate to finish from range. Six minutes after the restart, it was two as the forward's corner went straight in through Phillips's legs.

Tie Put Beyond Doubt and Attention Turns

Soon after Neto’s second, the match was put beyond doubt as a magnificent dribble from the forward teed up his teammate to slide into an unguarded goal. Neto then completed his treble as the provider again delivered the crucial ball for the striker to coolly convert past a stranded Phillips.

By that stage, the work Hull had put in in the first half-hour had long since erased. Their focus must now switch back to securing a return to the Premier League under their manager, who rested a number of first-choice individuals 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 strong position in the Championship," the Hull manager commented. "Never surrender, maybe in the next games this can be a good lesson of how we should play."

Hull showed plenty of endeavour to the final whistle, and they nearly got a late goal when Lewis Koumas struck a the upright in stoppage time. But this was the Blues' night, and another encouraging step forward for their new head coach at a place he knows very well.

FA Cup Omens Look Good

That made for an ultimately routine evening’s performance, and the cup competition signs are good 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. Much still done in that regard, but this was another huge positive for the Chelsea boss.