Pedro Neto Fires Hat-Trick as Chelsea Provide Liam Rosenior with Joyous Return to Hull

Amid freezing rain, flurries, and a biting breeze off the waters of the Humber, combined with a determined home side fighting for promotion, this had all the makings of a difficult evening’s work for the visitors.

"We could have added to our tally but Hull are a strong team and it was a tough tie; I’m very pleased with the performance," he said. "Hull City is very special to me so it was nice to get a good welcome from the fans of fans. The application of the lads was excellent."

The Rosenior has this city close to his heart, considering some of his family hail from Hull and his successful spell in charge of the Championship club. His happy connection was extended with a magnificent performance from his squad, who ultimately sauntered into the next round of the famous old competition.

Clinical Finishing Secures Comfortable Win

Seventy-two hours after letting slip a 2-0 lead in the Premier League, there was a hint of fragility about Chelsea going into this potentially tricky tie. The packed Hull support clearly sensed it too, but the London side handled the task perfectly.

Rosenior rang the changes, enacting multiple of them to his XI. The tie might and perhaps should have been settled long before it actually was, with two Estêvão Willian and Liam Delap guilty of spurning excellent chances to put their side ahead in the first half.

But, fortunately for the away team, their Portuguese attacker was in a far more clinical frame of mind. He broke the scoring with a marvellous distance effort, which acted as the catalyst for his team to take control of the match. By full time, they had four, with Neto netting a trio of them for a superb three-goal haul.

Delap's Redemption and Impact

Hull displayed plenty of fight throughout, but the better opportunities consistently fell Chelsea’s way. The winger ought to have opened the scoring when he rounded keeper the Hull stopper before inexplicably shooting over. The striker then had a similar nightmare moment in front of goal against his old team.

He blocked a Phillips's kick which came off the bar, and he began to celebrate thinking the ball had crossed the line. It hadn’t, and by the time he understood, Hull's defenders had responded to clear the danger.

Delap had his head in his hands after that miss, but he was hugely influential from that point onward, registering three assists. The opening was for the first goal as his through ball teed up his teammate to score from range. Shortly after the restart, it was two as the forward's set-piece went straight in through Phillips's legs.

Contest Put Beyond Doubt and Focus Turns

Seven minutes after Neto’s second, the match was put beyond doubt as a magnificent run from the forward teed up his teammate to slide into an empty net. Neto then completed his hat-trick as the provider again played the crucial pass for the striker to calmly slot by a helpless goalkeeper.

By that stage, the work Hull had put in in the first half-hour had long since forgotten. Their focus must now switch back to securing a promotion to the top division under their manager, who left out several first-choice players with that goal in mind.

"I think we earned at least one goal but if we play like this we will be in a very good situation in the Championship," the Hull manager commented. "Never surrender, maybe in the next games this can be a good lesson of how we should play."

Hull showed great effort to the end, and they nearly got a consolation when Lewis Koumas struck a post in injury time. But this was the Blues' evening, and another encouraging stride for their new manager at a stadium he knows very well.

FA Cup Omens Look Good

That made for an ultimately straightforward evening’s work, and the cup competition signs are good from here for Chelsea. They have played Hull on three other occasions in this tournament in the past ten years and every single time, they have gone on to make the final. There is still work in that respect, but this was another huge tick for the Chelsea boss.