Pedro Neto Scores Hat-Trick as Chelsea Provide Manager The Boss with Happy Homecoming to Hull City

Amid sleet, snow, and a biting wind off the waters of the Humber, combined with a determined home side pushing hard for a top-flight place, this presented all the ingredients of a difficult evening’s task for the visitors.

"We could have scored more but Hull are a good team and it was a tough tie; I’m delighted with the performance," he said. "This club is very special to me so it was nice to get a positive welcome from both sets of fans. The application of the players was excellent."

The Chelsea manager holds this city close to his heart, considering part of his relatives hail from Hull and his successful period in management of the Tigers. This positive connection continued with a magnificent display from his team, who in the end sauntered into the fifth round of the FA Cup.

Clinical Finishing Secures Comprehensive Win

Seventy-two hours removed from surrendering a 2-0 lead in the Premier League, there was a sniff of fragility about them going into this intriguing cup clash. The packed home support evidently sensed it too, but Rosenior's men navigated the challenge with ease.

The manager made alterations, enacting seven of them to his XI. The match could and maybe ought to have been decided earlier than it actually was, with two the Brazilian winger and Liam Delap at fault for missing excellent chances to put Chelsea in front in the first half.

But, fortunately for the visitors, their Portuguese attacker was in a much more ruthless frame of mind. He broke the deadlock with a spectacular long-range strike, which proved to be the spark for Chelsea to take command of the match. By the final whistle, they had four, with the forward netting three of them for a brilliant three-goal haul.

Delap's Redemption and Influence

Hull showed great fight throughout, but the better opportunities consistently came to the visitors. The winger should have broken the deadlock when he went past goalkeeper Dillon Phillips before unbelievably firing over. The striker then had a comparable horror moment in front of goal against his old team.

He blocked a Phillips's kick which bounced off the crossbar, and Delap started to run away thinking the ball had crossed the line. It had not, and by the time he understood, Hull's defenders had reacted to avert the threat.

Delap had his head in his hands after that moment, but he was hugely instrumental from there on out, registering 3 assists. The opening was for the first goal as his pass teed up Neto to finish from outside the box. Six minutes after the restart, it was 2-0 as the forward's set-piece went straight in through the keeper's legs.

Contest Sealed and Focus Shifts

Soon after Neto’s second goal, the match was effectively ended as a dazzling dribble from the forward teed up his teammate to tap into an empty net. The hat-trick hero then finished his hat-trick as Delap again played the crucial ball for the attacker to calmly convert past a helpless Phillips.

At that point, the effort Hull had put in in the opening thirty minutes had been forgotten. Their focus must now return to achieving a promotion to the Premier League under Sergej Jakirovic, who left out a number of first-choice players with that aim in mind.

"I think we deserved at least one goal but if we perform like this we will be in a strong situation in the league," the Hull manager commented. "Keep fighting, maybe in the upcoming games this can be a positive example of how we should play."

There was plenty of effort to the end, and they nearly claimed a consolation when a substitute struck a the upright in injury time. But this was the Blues' night, and another positive step forward for their recently-appointed head coach at a stadium he is familiar with very well.

FA Cup Omens Are Good

That made for an ultimately routine evening’s work, and the cup competition signs are good from here for the winners. They have played Hull on three other occasions in this tournament in the past ten years and every single time, they have progressed to reach the final. Much still work in that regard, but this was another huge tick for Rosenior.