Hull City boss Nigel Adkins has insisted that he was pleased with his side's efforts in the 4-0 defeat to Chelsea in the FA Cup.

The Tigers had hoped to reach the quarter-finals of the competition, but Chelsea netted four times in the opening 45 minutes to effectively seal their place in the last eight with a half to spare.

However, Adkins has said that he was impressed with the character shown by his players after admitting that their 'gameplan went out of the window' after two minutes.

The 52-year-old is quoted by BBC Sport as saying: "They were very good in the first half. We gifted them some positions but we knew it was going to be a tough ask. We were not close enough in the first, but the second half was a totally different story.

"We could have taken the foot off the gas, but we were a lot more assertive, the players responded in a positive manner and we have 15 cup finals now. It was good character.

"We came with a gameplan that went out of the window within two minutes. It's a great learning lesson for some of the younger players - you cannot give the ball away cheaply, but the players showed great spirit in the second half because there is a spirit around ourselves."

Hull currently sit in 21st place in the Championship standings.