🔗 Share this article

Amid freezing rain, snow, and a biting wind 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 Chelsea.

"We might have added to our tally but the opposition are a strong team and it was a tough tie; I am delighted with the performance," he said. "Hull City is very special to me so it was great to get a positive welcome from the fans of fans. The attitude of the players was excellent."

The Chelsea manager has this place close to his heart, given part of his family are from Hull and his successful period in management of the Tigers. His happy association was extended with a magnificent performance from his team, who in the end sauntered into the next round of the famous old competition.

Deadly Finishing Secures Comfortable Win

Three days removed from letting slip a 2-0 lead in the Premier League, there was a sniff of fragility about them going into this potentially tricky cup clash. The capacity Hull support clearly felt it too, but the London side navigated the challenge with ease.

The manager made alterations, enacting seven of them to his starting lineup. The match might and perhaps should have been decided earlier than it eventually was, with two Estêvão Willian and the forward at fault for missing glorious chances to put their side ahead in the first half.

However, luckily for the away team, their Portuguese attacker was in a far more clinical mood. He opened the scoring with a spectacular long-range effort, which acted as the catalyst for his team to take control of proceedings. By full time, they had four, with the forward netting three of them for a superb three-goal haul.

Delap's Redemption and Influence

Hull showed great spirit all game, but the clearer chances consistently fell Chelsea’s way. The winger ought to have opened the deadlock when he rounded keeper Dillon Phillips before inexplicably firing over. Delap then had a comparable horror incident in front of goal against his old team.

He deflected a the goalkeeper's clearance which came back from the crossbar, and he started to celebrate thinking the ball had crossed the line. It hadn’t, and by the time he realised, Hull's defenders had responded to avert the threat.

The player had his head in his hands after that moment, but he was hugely instrumental from there on out, providing 3 assists. The opening was for the first goal as his through ball set up Neto to score from range. Six minutes after the second half began, it was two as Neto's set-piece went straight in through Phillips's legs.

Tie Sealed and Focus Turns

Soon after Neto’s second goal, the match was put beyond doubt as a dazzling run from the forward laid on Estêvão to tap into an empty net. The hat-trick hero then finished his treble as the provider again delivered the crucial pass for the striker to calmly convert past a stranded goalkeeper.

At that point, the work Hull had put in in the opening thirty minutes had been erased. Their priority must now switch back to securing a promotion to the top division under Sergej Jakirovic, who rested a number of key individuals with that aim 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 Championship," the Hull manager commented. "Keep fighting, maybe in the upcoming games this can be a positive lesson of how we must play."

Hull showed plenty of effort to the final whistle, and they almost got a late goal when Lewis Koumas hit a post in injury time. But this was Chelsea’s evening, and another positive step forward for their new head coach at a place he is familiar with intimately.

FA Cup Omens Look Promising

The result made for an in the end routine evening’s work, and the cup competition signs are good from here for the winners. They have played Hull on three other times in this competition in the past ten years and every single time, they have progressed to make the final. Much still work in that regard, but this was another huge tick for the Chelsea boss.