🔗 Share this article

Amid sleet, flurries, and a biting breeze from the banks of the Humber Estuary, combined with a determined home side pushing hard for promotion, this had all the makings of a challenging evening’s task for the visitors.

"We might have scored more but the opposition are a strong team and it was a tough fixture; I’m delighted with the performance," the manager stated. "This club is very special to me so it was nice to get a good reception from the fans of supporters. The application of the players was excellent."

Liam Chelsea manager has this place dear to him, considering part of his family are from Hull and his enjoyable spell in charge of the Championship club. His positive connection was extended with a commanding display from his squad, who in the end strolled into the next round of the FA Cup.

Clinical Edge Seals Comprehensive Victory

Seventy-two hours removed from letting slip a two-goal advantage in the Premier League, there was a hint of fragility about them going into this potentially tricky tie. The capacity Hull crowd evidently felt it too, but Rosenior's men navigated the challenge perfectly.

Rosenior rang the changes, enacting seven of them to his XI. The tie might and maybe should have been decided earlier than it eventually was, with both Estêvão Willian and the forward guilty of missing excellent chances to put Chelsea ahead in the first half.

However, luckily for the visitors, their Portuguese attacker was in a far more clinical mood. He opened the deadlock with a spectacular distance effort, which proved to be the catalyst for his team to take command of the match. By the final whistle, they had four, with Neto netting three of them for a superb hat-trick.

The Forward's Response and Impact

The home side displayed great fight all game, but the clearer chances always fell to the visitors. The winger should have broken the deadlock when he went past goalkeeper the Hull stopper before inexplicably shooting over. The striker then had a similar horror incident in front of goal against his former club.

He deflected a Phillips's kick which bounced back from the bar, and he began to run away thinking the ball had crossed the line. It hadn’t, and by the time he understood, Hull's defenders 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 three assists. The opening was for the first goal as his pass teed up his teammate to score from outside the box. Six minutes after the restart, it was two as Neto's set-piece went straight in through Phillips's legs.

Contest Put Beyond Doubt and Focus Shifts

Soon after the second goal, the match was put beyond doubt as a dazzling dribble from Delap teed up his teammate to slide into an unguarded goal. Neto then finished his treble as the provider again delivered the crucial ball for the attacker to calmly slot by a stranded Phillips.

By that stage, the work Hull had done in the opening thirty minutes had long since erased. Their focus must now return to securing a return to the Premier League under their manager, who rested several key individuals with that goal 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 league," the Hull manager commented. "Never surrender, maybe in the next games this can be a positive example of how we should play."

Hull showed great effort to the end, and they almost got a late goal when a substitute struck a post in stoppage time. But this was Chelsea’s evening, and another encouraging stride for their new manager at a place he is familiar with very well.

FA Cup Omens Are Good

The result resulted in an ultimately straightforward evening’s performance, and the FA Cup-shaped omens are good from here for the winners. They have faced Hull on three other occasions in this competition in the past ten years and every single time, they have gone on to make the showpiece. Much still work in that respect, but this was another huge tick for the Chelsea boss.