Amid sleet, flurries, and a swirling wind off the waters of the Humber, combined with a resolute Hull City side pushing hard for promotion, this had all the makings of a difficult night's task for the visitors.
"We could have scored more but Hull are a strong team and it was a tough tie; I am very pleased with the performance," he said. "Hull City is very special to me so it was nice to get a positive welcome from both sets of fans. The application of the players was excellent."
Liam Rosenior holds this city close to his heart, given part of his family hail from Hull and his successful spell in charge of the Championship club. This happy association continued with a commanding display from his team, who ultimately sauntered into the fifth round of the FA Cup.
Deadly Finishing Seals Comprehensive Win
Three days after surrendering a two-goal advantage in the Premier League, there was a hint of vulnerability about them going into this intriguing tie. The packed Hull support evidently felt it too, but Rosenior's men navigated the challenge with ease.
Rosenior made alterations, enacting seven of them to his starting lineup. The tie might and perhaps ought to have been settled long before it actually was, with both the Brazilian winger and the forward guilty of missing excellent chances to put Chelsea in front in the first half.
However, luckily for the away team, Pedro Neto was in a far more ruthless frame of mind. He opened the scoring with a marvellous distance strike, which acted as the spark for his team to take command of the match. By the final whistle, they had 4 goals, with the forward netting a trio of them for a superb three-goal haul.
Delap's Response and Influence
Hull showed plenty of spirit throughout, but the better chances consistently came to the visitors. The winger should have broken the scoring when he rounded keeper the Hull stopper before inexplicably shooting over. Delap then had a similar nightmare incident in front of goal against his old team.
He blocked a the goalkeeper's kick which bounced back from the crossbar, and Delap started to run away believing the ball had crossed the line. It had not, and by the time he realised, Hull's defenders had reacted to clear the danger.
The player had his head in his hands after that miss, but he was hugely instrumental from there on out, providing 3 assists. The first was for the first goal as his pass teed up his teammate to score from outside the box. Six minutes after the restart, it was two as the forward's set-piece went straight in under the keeper's legs.
Tie Put Beyond Doubt and Attention Shifts
Soon after Neto’s second goal, the tie was put beyond doubt as a dazzling dribble from Delap teed up Estêvão to tap into an unguarded goal. Neto then finished his treble as the provider once again delivered the crucial ball for the striker to coolly slot past a helpless Phillips.
By that stage, the effort Hull had put in in the opening half-hour had been erased. Their focus must now return to achieving a promotion to the top division under their manager, who rested a number of key players 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 very good position in the league," the Hull manager commented. "Never surrender, maybe in the next games this can be a positive example of how we should play."
Hull showed great effort to the end, and they almost got a late goal when a substitute hit a post in injury time. But this was Chelsea’s evening, and another positive stride for their recently-appointed manager at a place he is familiar with intimately.
FA Cup Omens Are Promising
That made for an ultimately straightforward night's work, and the cup competition omens are good from here for the winners. They have faced Hull on three other occasions in this tournament in the last decade and every single time, they have gone on to reach the showpiece. There is remains to be work in that regard, but this was another significant tick for Rosenior.
