🔗 Share this article

Amid freezing rain, snow, and a swirling breeze off the banks of the Humber Estuary, combined with a resolute home side fighting for promotion, this had all the ingredients of a difficult evening’s task for the visitors.

"We could have added to our tally but Hull are a good team and it was a difficult tie; I am delighted with the performance," he said. "Hull City is very special to me so it was great to get a good reception from the fans of supporters. The attitude of the players was excellent."

Liam Rosenior holds this city dear to him, given part of his relatives are from Hull and his successful period in charge of the Tigers. His happy connection was extended with a commanding display from his team, who in the end sauntered into the fifth round of the famous old competition.

Clinical Finishing Seals Comfortable Victory

Seventy-two hours removed from surrendering a two-goal advantage in the Premier League, there was a hint of vulnerability about them going into this potentially tricky cup clash. The capacity home crowd evidently felt it too, but the London side navigated the challenge with ease.

The manager made alterations, making multiple of them to his starting lineup. The tie could and maybe ought to have been settled long before it actually was, with two the Brazilian winger and Liam Delap at fault for spurning glorious chances to put their side in front in the first half.

But, fortunately for the away team, their Portuguese attacker was in a far more ruthless frame of mind. He opened the scoring with a spectacular distance effort, which proved to be the catalyst for Chelsea to take control of proceedings. By the final whistle, they had four, with the forward netting a trio of them for a brilliant hat-trick.

Delap's Response and Influence

Hull displayed plenty of fight throughout, but the clearer opportunities always came Chelsea’s way. The winger ought to have broken the scoring when he rounded goalkeeper the Hull stopper before inexplicably shooting over. Delap then had a comparable horror moment in front of goal against his old team.

He deflected a Phillips's clearance which came off the bar, and Delap started to run away thinking the ball had gone over the line. It hadn’t, and by the time he realised, Hull's backline had reacted to avert the threat.

Delap had his head in his hands after that miss, but he was immensely instrumental from that point onward, registering 3 key passes. The first was for the opening goal as his pass set up his teammate to score from outside the box. Shortly after the restart, it was two as Neto's set-piece went directly in through the keeper's legs.

Contest Sealed and Attention Shifts

Seven minutes after the second, the tie was effectively ended as a dazzling dribble from Delap teed up his teammate to slide into an empty net. The hat-trick hero then finished his treble as Delap again delivered the crucial ball for the striker to calmly slot past a helpless Phillips.

By that stage, the work Hull had done in the first thirty minutes had been erased. Their priority must now return to achieving a promotion to the Premier League under Sergej Jakirovic, who rested several key individuals with that goal in mind.

"In my opinion we deserved at least one goal but if we play like this we will be in a strong position in the league," he said. "Keep fighting, maybe in the next games this can be a positive lesson of how we must play."

There was great endeavour to the final whistle, and they nearly got a consolation when Lewis Koumas struck a post in stoppage time. But this was Chelsea’s evening, and another encouraging step forward for their new head coach at a stadium he is familiar with very well.

FA Cup Omens Are Promising

The result made for an in the end routine evening’s work, and the FA Cup-shaped signs are good from here for Chelsea. They have played Hull on three other times in this competition in the past ten years and on each occasion, they have progressed to reach the final. There is still work in that respect, but this was another significant positive for the Chelsea boss.