The Portuguese Forward Scores Treble as Chelsea Deliver Liam The Boss with Happy Return to Hull
Amid freezing rain, flurries, and a swirling wind from the waters of the Humber, combined with a determined home side pushing hard for promotion, this had all the makings of a challenging evening’s task for the visitors.
"We might have scored more but the opposition are a strong team and it was a tough tie; I’m very pleased with the display," the manager stated. "This club means a lot to me so it was nice to get a good welcome from the fans of fans. The application of the players was superb."
The Chelsea manager holds this city close to his heart, considering some of his family are from Hull and his enjoyable spell in management of the Championship club. His happy association continued with a magnificent display from his squad, who in the end sauntered into the next round of the famous old competition.
Clinical Finishing Secures Comprehensive Victory
Seventy-two hours removed from surrendering a 2-0 advantage in the Premier League, there was a hint of fragility about Chelsea going into this intriguing tie. The capacity Hull support evidently felt it too, but the London side handled the task with ease.
The manager made alterations, enacting seven of them to his XI. The match might and perhaps ought to have been settled earlier than it actually was, with two Estêvão Willian and Liam Delap guilty of missing glorious opportunities to put Chelsea ahead in the first half.
But, luckily for the away team, Pedro Neto was in a much more ruthless frame of mind. He broke the scoring with a marvellous long-range effort, which acted as the catalyst for his team to assume command of the match. By the final whistle, they had 4 goals, with Neto scoring three of them for a brilliant three-goal haul.
Delap's Response and Impact
The home side showed plenty of spirit all game, but the clearer chances consistently fell Chelsea’s way. The winger ought to have opened the deadlock when he rounded goalkeeper Dillon Phillips before inexplicably shooting over. Delap then had a comparable horror moment in front of goal against his former club.
He deflected a the goalkeeper's kick which came off the bar, and he began to run away thinking the ball had gone over the line. It had not, and by the time he realised, Hull's defenders had reacted to avert the danger.
Delap had his head in his hands after that miss, but he was hugely influential from there on out, providing 3 assists. The first was for the first goal as his through ball set up Neto to finish from range. Six minutes after the second half began, it was two as the forward's corner went directly in under Phillips's legs.
Tie Sealed and Attention Turns
Soon after the second goal, the tie was effectively ended as a dazzling dribble from the forward teed up his teammate to slide into an unguarded goal. Neto then finished his treble as the provider once again played the decisive ball for the attacker to coolly convert past a helpless Phillips.
At that point, the work Hull had put in in the first thirty minutes had long since forgotten. Their priority must now switch back to achieving a promotion to the top division under their manager, who rested a number of key players with that aim 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. "Never surrender, maybe in the upcoming games this can be a good lesson of how we must play."
Hull showed plenty of effort to the end, and they almost got a consolation when Lewis Koumas struck a the upright in injury time. But this was the Blues' night, and another positive step forward for their recently-appointed head coach at a place he is familiar with very well.
FA Cup History Look Good
That made for an ultimately routine evening’s work, and the cup competition signs are good from here for the winners. They have faced Hull on three previous occasions in this competition in the last decade and on each occasion, they have gone on to make the showpiece. There is remains to be work in that respect, but this was another huge tick for Rosenior.