🔗 Share this article

Against a backdrop of sleet, flurries, and a biting breeze off the waters of the Humber, combined with a resolute Hull City side fighting for promotion, this presented all the makings of a challenging evening’s work for the visitors.

"We could have scored more but the opposition are a good team and it was a difficult fixture; I’m very pleased with the performance," he said. "Hull City means a lot to me so it was great to get a positive reception from both sets of supporters. The attitude of the lads was superb."

The Rosenior has this place dear to him, given some of his relatives hail from Hull and his enjoyable spell in charge of the Championship club. This positive association continued with a magnificent performance from his squad, who ultimately sauntered into the next round of the famous old competition.

Clinical Finishing Secures Comprehensive Victory

Seventy-two hours after letting slip a 2-0 lead in the league, there was a sniff of fragility about Chelsea going into this intriguing cup clash. The capacity Hull support evidently sensed it too, but Rosenior's men navigated the challenge perfectly.

The manager made alterations, enacting multiple of them to his starting lineup. The tie might and maybe should have been settled earlier than it actually was, with both Estêvão Willian and the forward at fault for spurning excellent opportunities to put their side in front in the first half.

But, fortunately for the visitors, Pedro Neto was in a much more ruthless mood. He broke the scoring with a spectacular long-range strike, which proved to be the catalyst for Chelsea to assume control of the match. By the final whistle, they had four, with Neto scoring a trio of them for a superb hat-trick.

The Forward's Redemption and Influence

Hull showed great fight all game, but the better chances always fell Chelsea’s way. The winger ought to have broken the deadlock when he rounded goalkeeper Dillon Phillips before unbelievably shooting over. Delap then had a similar horror moment in front of goal against his old team.

He deflected a Phillips's kick which came back from the crossbar, and Delap began to run away thinking the ball had crossed the line. It hadn’t, and by the time he understood, Hull's defenders had responded to clear the threat.

Delap had his head in his hands after that miss, but he was immensely influential from there on out, providing 3 key passes. The first was for the opening goal as his through ball set up his teammate to score from range. Shortly after the second half began, it was 2-0 as Neto's corner went directly in through the keeper's legs.

Tie Put Beyond Doubt and Focus Turns

Soon after the second, the tie was effectively ended as a magnificent dribble from the forward teed up his teammate to slide into an empty net. The hat-trick hero then finished his treble as Delap again delivered the crucial pass for the striker to coolly slot by a stranded Phillips.

At that point, the effort Hull had put in in the first half-hour had been forgotten. Their focus must now switch back to achieving a return to the top division under their manager, who rested a number of first-choice individuals 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 strong position in the league," the Hull manager commented. "Keep fighting, maybe in the upcoming matches this can be a good example of how we should play."

Hull showed great endeavour to the final whistle, and they almost claimed a late goal when Lewis Koumas hit a post in stoppage time. But this was Chelsea’s evening, and another positive stride for their recently-appointed manager at a place he is familiar with very well.

Cup History Are Good

That resulted in an ultimately routine night's performance, and the cup competition signs 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 gone on to reach the final. Much still done in that respect, but this was another huge positive for the Chelsea boss.