🔗 Share this article

Against a backdrop of sleet, snow, and a biting wind from the waters of the Humber Estuary, combined with a resolute Hull City side pushing hard for a top-flight place, this had all the ingredients of a difficult evening’s work for Chelsea.

"We might have scored more but the opposition are a good team and it was a difficult tie; I am delighted with the performance," he said. "This club means a lot to me so it was nice to get a good reception from the fans of fans. The application of the lads was excellent."

The Chelsea manager has this place close to his heart, given part of his family are from Hull and his enjoyable spell in charge of the Tigers. This positive connection continued with a magnificent performance from his team, who in the end sauntered into the next round of the FA Cup.

Clinical Finishing Seals Comfortable Victory

Three days after letting slip a two-goal lead in the league, there was a sniff of vulnerability about Chelsea going into this potentially tricky cup clash. The packed Hull support evidently felt it too, but Rosenior's men handled the challenge perfectly.

The manager made alterations, making multiple of them to his starting lineup. The match might and perhaps ought to have been decided long before it actually was, with both the Brazilian winger and Liam Delap guilty of missing excellent chances to put Chelsea in front in the first half.

However, fortunately for the away team, Pedro Neto was in a much more ruthless mood. He broke the deadlock with a marvellous long-range strike, which proved to be the spark for his team to take command of the match. By full time, they had four, with the forward netting three of them for a superb three-goal haul.

The Forward's Redemption and Impact

The home side showed great fight throughout, but the better opportunities consistently came to the visitors. Estêvão should have broken the scoring when he went past goalkeeper the Hull stopper before unbelievably shooting over. The striker then had a similar nightmare moment in front of goal against his old team.

He blocked a Phillips's clearance which came back from the crossbar, and Delap started to run away thinking the ball had crossed the line. It had not, and by the time he realised, Hull's backline had responded to avert the danger.

The player had his head in his hands after that miss, but he was immensely influential from there on out, registering 3 assists. The opening was for the first goal as his through ball set up his teammate to finish from range. Six minutes after the second half began, it was 2-0 as Neto's corner went straight in through Phillips's legs.

Contest Sealed and Focus Turns

Seven minutes after the second goal, the tie was put beyond doubt as a dazzling run from the forward laid on Estêvão to tap into an unguarded goal. The hat-trick hero then finished his hat-trick as the provider once again played the decisive ball for the striker to coolly slot by a stranded Phillips.

At that point, the work Hull had done in the opening thirty minutes had long since forgotten. Their priority must now return to securing a promotion to the Premier League under their manager, who rested a number of key players with that aim 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 Championship," he said. "Never surrender, maybe in the next games this can be a positive example of how we should play."

There was plenty of endeavour to the end, and they nearly claimed a consolation when Lewis Koumas struck a the upright in stoppage time. But this was the Blues' evening, and another encouraging step forward for their recently-appointed manager at a place he knows intimately.

FA Cup History Are Promising

The result resulted in an ultimately straightforward night's work, and the FA Cup-shaped omens are positive from here for the winners. They have played Hull on three other occasions in this tournament in the past ten years and on each occasion, they have progressed to make the showpiece. There is remains to be work in that regard, but this was another significant tick for Rosenior.