Amid freezing rain, flurries, and a biting breeze off the waters of the Humber, alongside a resolute home side pushing hard for promotion, this had all the ingredients of a challenging night's work for the visitors.
"We might have added to our tally but the opposition are a strong team and it was a difficult fixture; I’m very pleased with the performance," the manager stated. "This club is very special to me so it was great to get a positive reception from both sets of supporters. The attitude of the players was superb."
Liam Rosenior holds this city close to his heart, considering part of his family are from Hull and his successful period in management of the Tigers. His positive association was extended with a magnificent display from his team, who ultimately strolled into the next round of the FA Cup.
Clinical Edge Seals Comfortable Victory
Three days after letting slip a 2-0 advantage in the Premier League, there was a hint of fragility about them going into this potentially tricky tie. The packed Hull crowd clearly sensed it too, but the London side handled the challenge perfectly.
The manager made alterations, making multiple of them to his XI. The match could and maybe should have been settled earlier than it actually was, with both Estêvão Willian and Liam Delap at fault for spurning glorious opportunities to put Chelsea in front in the first half.
But, fortunately for the visitors, Pedro Neto was in a far more clinical mood. He opened the deadlock with a spectacular long-range effort, which proved to be the catalyst for his team to assume command of the match. By the final whistle, they had 4 goals, with Neto netting a trio of them for a brilliant hat-trick.
Delap's Response and Impact
Hull displayed great fight throughout, but the better chances consistently fell Chelsea’s way. The winger should have opened the scoring when he rounded keeper Dillon Phillips before inexplicably shooting over. Delap then had a comparable horror incident in front of goal against his old team.
He blocked a Phillips's clearance which bounced back from the crossbar, and he began to celebrate believing the ball had gone over the line. It had not, and by the time he understood, Hull's defenders had responded to clear the danger.
The player had his head in his hands after that moment, but he was hugely instrumental from there on out, registering three key passes. The opening was for the opening goal as his pass teed up his teammate to score from outside the box. Six minutes after the second half began, it was two as the forward's set-piece went directly in under Phillips's legs.
Tie Sealed and Focus Shifts
Soon after Neto’s second, the tie was put beyond doubt as a dazzling dribble from Delap laid on his teammate to tap into an unguarded goal. Neto then completed his hat-trick as the provider again delivered the decisive pass for the attacker to coolly convert past a helpless Phillips.
By that stage, the effort Hull had put in in the first thirty minutes had been erased. Their priority must now return to securing a return to the top division under Sergej Jakirovic, who rested a number of first-choice individuals with that goal in mind.
"In my opinion we deserved at least one goal but if we perform like this we will be in a very good situation in the league," he said. "Keep fighting, maybe in the next matches this can be a good example of how we should play."
Hull showed great endeavour to the end, and they nearly claimed a consolation when a substitute hit a post in stoppage time. But this was Chelsea’s night, and another positive step forward for their new head coach at a place he is familiar with very well.
Cup History Look Good
That resulted in an in the end routine evening’s performance, and the cup competition omens are good from here for the winners. They have played Hull on three other times in this competition in the last decade and every single time, they have progressed to make the final. Much still done in that respect, but this was another huge tick for the Chelsea boss.
