Post-match reaction

Gus Poyet, who said he would approach this Cup tie as though 'Hull were the best side in the world', took his own words literally as a hat-trick on his FA Cup debut inspired Chelsea to a comfortable 6-1 victory at Boothferry Park.

Chris Sutton, Roberto di Matteo and a Mike Edwards own goal were the other goalscorers, but Hull fans will remember the afternoon for when David Brown skipped through the defence to score what turned out to be nothing more than an academic strike.

While Chelsea were holding the mighty Lazio midweek, the most expensive club side in the world, Hull were notching their third successive win against York in the Auto Windscreens Trophy - without eleven of the players that beat Exeter 4-0 last week. Rotation policies don't just exist at Stamford Bridge, Luca - it goes on at Boothferry Park too.

But there's not much money washing around beside the North Sea these days. David Lloyd sold the club in November to a Sheffield-based consortium, who are only renting the ground but still face the problem of Hull's million-pound annual wage bill.

They are a unique club, Hull. Not only are they the scourge of pub quizzes countrywide, as the only league side with letters unable to be coloured in, but they are the biggest city in Europe never to have boasted a top-flight club.

Now they were entertaining one. And entertainment is the best word to describe two jinking runs by Jamaican international Theodore Whitmore, one in the tenth minute producing a shot that de Goey did excellently to claw to safety.

By then, though, Poyet had given Chelsea the lead. Dennis Wise led a breakaway and the ball came to Poyet. The Uruguayan, 25 yards out, played a one-two with an opposition defender and then had time and space to curl his shot into the top corner. Never mind the best team in the world, the best keeper would have had problems keeping that one out.

And such an epithet does not describe Lee Bracey, back between the sticks for the Cup-tied Stephen Bywater. He'd be the first to admit as much, especially with a Cup record that saw him pick the ball out of his net eight times in Liverpool's thrashing of Swansea in 1990.

Minutes after the goal, Bracey was the hero. And Chris Sutton the villain. The 10m forward, who before this game had only managed four shots on target all season, was clean through - he nearly had time to nip back to Italy and have a plate of linguini carbonara - but in a moment reminiscent of his opening-day nightmare against Sunderland, he hit his effort straight at Bracey's legs.

Sutton's confidence looked shot to pieces, but on the half-hour mark it was restored in fantastic style. Chelsea's exquisite one-touch play was withstanding Hull's strong-arm tactics and a flowing move involving Wise, di Matteo and Harley saw the young left-back float in a centre which Sutton, seven yards from goal and in space, crane his neck to power the ball past Bracey.

Damage limitation would be the normal order for Warren Joyce - but when last season's Player of the Year Justin Whittle played a through-ball that Gianfranco Zola would have been proud of, to release David Brown running from deep, the agenda had to be altered dramatically.

The back four stood stock still as Brown ran onto the pass, rounded de Goey and knocked the ball into the vacant net. The Humber side had the big boys rocking - little surprise that the scorer was Brown. He has now scored in every round of this year's tournament.

The half-time period passed with Hull fans joyously singing their team's praises and when there were two goals within three minutes of the restart, they could have been in dreamland. But it was rapidly becoming a nightmare.

First, Roberto di Matteo capped off a great week - in which he became a father, and revisited former club Lazio - by curling a glorious 25-yarder past Bracey after a hideous goalmouth scramble following a corner.

And then Poyet repeated Sutton's first-half effort, heading Harley's cross into the net. With 40 minutes still to play, Bracey may have been happy to concede eight.

The fifth came when Sutton released Wise, whose precise ball across the six-yard line was poked home by the irrepressible Poyet.

The visitors took their foot off the pedal and after a triple-substitution, sat back and invited the hosts to come at them. De Goey was more generous than most, letting a 40-yard effort nearly slip through his fingers and into the net. Hull were fighting gamely and Brown fired a shot narrowly wide.

The party-piece, from a rejuvenated Sutton, was still to come. Taking the ball fully 45 yards out, his first-time effort sailed over Bracey but clipped the post and drifted to safety. Wise then created the final goal, his cross being turned into his own net by Mike Edwards.

But the damage had already been done and Vialli's side, though still inconsistent in the league, showed they hadn't lost that Cup magic.

In winning their first game on a Saturday since September 25, Chelsea keep their incredible knock-out tourmanent record intact. They have lifted four knock-out trophies in the last two-and-a-half years and few would bet against them adding to their 1970 and 1997 victories this year.

Hull: Bracey, Goodison, Harper, Edwards, Whittle, Whitney, Whitmore, Schofield (Morgan 81), Joyce, Wood, Brown (Eyre 59).
Subs Not Used: Baker, Harris, Greaves.
Booked: Whittle, Whitney, Joyce.
Goals: Brown 38.

Chelsea: De Goey, Hogh (Terry 59), Leboeuf, Deschamps (Morris 55), Poyet, Wise, Di Matteo, Ferrer, Harley, Sutton, Zola (Flo 46).
Subs Not Used: Petrescu, Cudicini.
Goals: Poyet 8, Sutton 30, Di Matteo 47, Poyet 49, 58, Wise 90.
Att: 10,279
Ref: P Jones (Loughborough)

VIALLI INSISTS HIS SIDE ARE NO SOFTIES

Gianluca Vialli saw his side thump lowly Hull 6-1 and declared that his side were not soft: "People think we are soft, I don't think we were that soft today. We were in the right frame of mind. We knew we were better than them and it showed on the pitch. We showed we learned a lesson and now we've got to get even better.

"I'm happy with the result and the performance and the reaction of the players after our last defeat on the domestic front. People criticised us and maybe rightly so. But we've had some injuries and I changed things round today. Di Matteo came in and Poyet played just behind the strikers and it worked so we made the right decision."

Vialli praised Poyet and Harley: "Gus is a very creative player and likes to feed strikers with cover passes. He was superb today," he said. "And Jon has a great attitude and commitment, he's quick and puts in great crosses, he's a joy to watch and he can only get better."

Poyet said: "It was very special to score my first hat-trick in England today. It was the first time I played in that position and I really enjoyed it. Before the game everybody was talking about which Chelsea would turn up - the Champions League Chelsea or the Premiership Chelsea. Well I think we did well.