The Portuguese Neto Fires Treble as The Blues Provide Liam The Boss with Happy Homecoming to Hull

Against a backdrop of freezing rain, snow, and a swirling breeze from the waters of the Humber, alongside a resolute Hull City side fighting for promotion, this presented all the ingredients of a challenging night's task for Chelsea.

"We could have scored more but the opposition are a good team and it was a tough fixture; I am very pleased with the display," the manager stated. "This club means a lot to me so it was great to get a good reception from the fans of supporters. The attitude of the lads was excellent."

Liam Rosenior holds this city dear to him, given part of his relatives hail from Hull and his successful spell in management of the Championship club. This positive connection was extended with a magnificent display from his squad, who in the end strolled into the next round of the FA Cup.

Deadly Edge Seals Comfortable Victory

Seventy-two hours removed from surrendering a two-goal advantage in the Premier League, there was a hint of vulnerability about them going into this intriguing tie. The capacity Hull crowd evidently sensed it too, but Rosenior's men navigated the challenge with ease.

The manager rang the changes, enacting seven of them to his starting lineup. The match could and perhaps should have been settled earlier than it actually was, with both Estêvão Willian and Liam Delap guilty of missing glorious opportunities to put Chelsea in front in the first half.

But, luckily for the away team, Pedro Neto was in a much more ruthless frame of mind. He broke the scoring with a marvellous distance strike, which proved to be the catalyst for Chelsea to take command of the match. By the final whistle, they had four, with Neto scoring a trio of them for a brilliant hat-trick.

Delap's Response and Impact

The home side showed plenty of fight throughout, but the clearer opportunities always fell to the visitors. Estêvão ought to have opened the scoring when he went past keeper Dillon Phillips before inexplicably shooting over. The striker then had a similar nightmare incident in front of goal against his former club.

He deflected a Phillips's kick which bounced back from the bar, and he started to celebrate thinking the ball had crossed the line. It had not, and by the time he realised, Hull's backline had responded to clear the threat.

The player had his head in his hands after that miss, but he was immensely influential from that point onward, registering three assists. The opening was for the opening goal as his pass set up Neto to finish from range. Six minutes after the restart, it was 2-0 as Neto's corner went directly in under Phillips's legs.

Contest Sealed and Attention Turns

Soon after Neto’s second goal, the match was effectively ended as a magnificent run from the forward laid on his teammate to tap into an empty net. The hat-trick hero then finished his treble as Delap once again played the decisive ball for the attacker to calmly slot past a helpless Phillips.

At that point, the work Hull had put in in the opening half-hour had been erased. Their focus must now switch back to achieving a promotion to the top division under Sergej Jakirovic, who left out a number of key individuals 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 position in the league," he said. "Keep fighting, maybe in the upcoming matches this can be a positive lesson of how we should play."

There was plenty of endeavour to the final whistle, and they nearly claimed a consolation when a substitute hit a the upright in stoppage time. But this was Chelsea’s evening, and another positive step forward for their new head coach at a place he is familiar with intimately.

Cup History Are Promising

That resulted in an in the end straightforward night's performance, and the cup competition omens are positive from here for the winners. They have played Hull on three previous occasions in this competition in the past ten years and on each occasion, they have gone on to reach the final. Much still work in that regard, but this was another huge positive for the Chelsea boss.