Pedro Neto Fires Treble as Chelsea Provide Liam The Boss with Joyous Homecoming to Hull City

Amid freezing rain, flurries, and a swirling wind from the waters of the Humber, combined with a resolute home side fighting for promotion, this presented all the makings of a difficult night's work for Chelsea.

"We might have added to our tally but Hull are a good team and it was a tough fixture; I am delighted with the display," the manager stated. "Hull City is very special to me so it was nice to get a positive reception from the fans of supporters. The attitude of the players was superb."

The Chelsea manager holds this city dear to him, given some of his family are from Hull and his successful period in charge of the Championship club. His happy connection continued with a commanding display from his squad, who ultimately strolled into the fifth round of the FA Cup.

Deadly Finishing Secures Comprehensive Victory

Three days removed from letting slip a 2-0 advantage in the league, there was a hint of vulnerability about them going into this intriguing tie. The packed home crowd evidently felt it too, but Rosenior's men navigated the task with ease.

The manager rang the changes, enacting multiple of them to his XI. The tie might and perhaps should have been decided long before it actually was, with both the Brazilian winger and the forward at fault for missing excellent opportunities to put their side ahead in the opening period.

But, fortunately for the away team, Pedro Neto was in a far more clinical frame of mind. He opened the scoring with a marvellous long-range strike, which proved to be the spark for his team to assume command of proceedings. By full time, they had four, with Neto netting a trio of them for a superb three-goal haul.

The Forward's Redemption and Influence

The home side displayed plenty of spirit throughout, but the clearer opportunities always came Chelsea’s way. The winger ought to have opened the deadlock when he rounded keeper Dillon Phillips before unbelievably firing over. The striker then had a similar nightmare moment in front of goal against his old team.

He blocked a Phillips's kick which bounced off the bar, and he began to celebrate believing the ball had gone over the line. It hadn’t, and by the time he realised, Hull's defenders had reacted to clear the threat.

Delap had his head in his hands after that moment, but he was immensely instrumental from there on out, registering 3 key passes. The opening was for the opening goal as his pass set up his teammate to score from outside the box. Six minutes after the second half began, it was two as the forward's set-piece went directly in through Phillips's legs.

Contest Sealed and Attention Turns

Soon after the second goal, the match was effectively ended as a magnificent run from the forward teed up Estêvão to slide into an unguarded goal. The hat-trick hero then finished his hat-trick as the provider again delivered the crucial pass for the attacker to calmly slot by a helpless goalkeeper.

By that stage, the work Hull had put in in the opening half-hour had long since erased. Their focus must now switch back to securing a return to the Premier League under Sergej Jakirovic, who left out several key players with that goal in mind.

"In my opinion we deserved at least one goal but if we perform like this we will be in a strong position in the league," he said. "Never surrender, maybe in the next games this can be a good example of how we should play."

Hull showed great effort to the end, and they almost claimed a late goal when Lewis Koumas struck a post in injury time. But this was the Blues' night, and another positive stride for their recently-appointed head coach at a stadium he knows very well.

Cup Omens Look Good

That made for an ultimately routine night's performance, and the FA Cup-shaped signs are positive from here for the winners. They have played Hull on three other occasions in this competition in the last decade and every single time, they have progressed to reach the final. Much remains to be work in that respect, but this was another significant tick for Rosenior.