With sleet, snow, swirling wind from the banks of the Humber and most importantly, a Hull City side pushing hard for promotion to the Premier League this season, it was hard not to believe pre-match that this had all the makings of a difficult evening’s work for Chelsea.
Liam Rosenior holds this city close to his heart, given how some of his family hail from Hull and he had an enjoyable spell in charge of the Tigers: well, until he was unceremoniously sacked nearly two years ago, that is. But his happy association with Hull continued here with a magnificent display from his Chelsea side, who ultimately sauntered into the next round of the FA Cup.
There was much to admire about this performance. Three days removed from surrendering a two-goal lead against Leeds, it felt as though there was a sniff of vulnerability about Chelsea going into this intriguing tie. The capacity home crowd clearly felt it too given the atmosphere pre-match – but Chelsea navigated the task perfectly.
Rosenior rung the changes, making seven of them to his starting line-up: with one in particular taking centre stage. The tie could and perhaps should have been decided long before it actually was, with both Estêvão and Liam Delap guilty of spurning glorious opportunities to put Chelsea ahead in the first half.
