‘It was stupid’ – Liam Delap explains bizarre open goal miss before stellar Chelsea display

Liam Delap saw the funny side of his baffling miss for Chelsea in their resounding FA Cup victory at Hull City.

The striker, who spent the 2023/24 campaign on loan at Hull from his former club Manchester City, missed a great chance in the 4-0 win.

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Delap hit the crossbar when the ball rebounded off his right leg from an attempted clearance by Tigers goalkeeper Dillon Phillips.

It bounced on the goal line, and the Chelsea man seemingly believed he had opened the scoring on the night.

However, the ball didn’t cross the line and Delap was made to pay for celebrating too early as he missed the chance to score an open goal.

Delap cut a hesitant figure as he appeared to wait for referee Farai Hallam to award the goal, and Chelsea eventually settled for a corner.

talkSPORT commentator Jim Proudfoot said after the miss: “He wheeled away in celebration, but the ball hit the bar and didn’t go over the line.

“He made the chance himself by chasing down, but he was just convinced it had gone in.

“This has been a bizarre masterclass in how not to finish.”

Then, when speaking to BBC Sport after the match, Delap was asked about his miss and he was able to explain himself.

He said: “I swear, I almost ran off, I thought it was in! It was just stupid.

“I should have just put it in. But these things happen, and I’ll learn from it for next time.”

Delap makes up for miss in style

Despite missing the opportunity to score his fourth goal for Chelsea, Delap made amends with an excellent performance.

He teed up Pedro Neto for the opener on 40 minutes before passing to Estevao Willian for his side’s third just before the hour mark.

Neto completed his hat-trick in the 71st minute, with Delap grabbing his third assist of the match.

Speaking on commentary for talkSPORT, Tash Dowie was left very pleased by Delap’s response to the miss.

“I’m proud in terms of his reaction, he hasn’t had as much game time or scored as many goals as he’d like,” Dowie said.

“He had a big miss in the first half, he could have easily let that get into his head, but he didn’t, he carried on running on and off the ball, creating chances.

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“And to be able to get three assists… scoring goals is what you want and he’d have wanted to score tonight… but to get some lovely assists for three goals.

“All round, I’d be giving him a solid 8/10.”

Chelsea cruise into fifth round

Neto’s hat-trick is the second for Chelsea in less than a week after Cole Palmer netted three in their Premier League win at Wolves.

The Blues are the first team since Tottenham Hotspur in May 2017 to score consecutive hat-tricks in away matches across all competitions.

Chelsea also increased their goal tally for the FA Cup this season to nine, adding to their 5-1 thrashing of Charlton Athletic last month.

Liam Rosenior‘s side will be part of the fifth round draw, which takes place on Monday night.

The eight-time winners last lifted the FA Cup in 2018, with three consecutive runners-up finishes coming between 2020 and 2022.