Pedro Neto Fires Hat-Trick as The Blues Provide Liam The Boss with Happy Homecoming to Hull City

Amid freezing rain, flurries, and a biting wind from the waters of the Humber Estuary, alongside a determined Hull City side pushing hard for promotion, this presented all the ingredients of a challenging night's task for the visitors.

"We could have scored more but the opposition are a strong team and it was a difficult tie; I’m delighted with the display," the manager stated. "Hull City is very special to me so it was great to get a positive reception from both sets of fans. The application of the players was excellent."

Liam Chelsea manager holds this city close to his heart, considering some of his relatives hail from Hull and his successful period in management of the Tigers. This positive association was extended with a commanding performance from his squad, who ultimately strolled into the fifth round of the FA Cup.

Deadly Edge Seals Comfortable Win

Three days after surrendering a 2-0 advantage in the league, there was a hint of vulnerability about Chelsea going into this potentially tricky cup clash. The capacity home crowd evidently sensed it too, but Rosenior's men navigated the task perfectly.

Rosenior rang the changes, making seven of them to his starting lineup. The match could and perhaps should have been settled earlier than it actually was, with both the Brazilian winger and the forward at fault for spurning excellent opportunities to put their side ahead in the opening period.

However, luckily for the visitors, Pedro Neto was in a far more clinical mood. He opened the deadlock with a spectacular distance strike, which proved to be the spark for his team to take control of proceedings. By the final whistle, they had 4 goals, with Neto scoring a trio of them for a superb hat-trick.

The Forward's Response and Influence

The home side displayed plenty of fight throughout, but the clearer chances consistently fell Chelsea’s way. Estêvão ought to have opened the deadlock when he rounded keeper Dillon Phillips before unbelievably firing over. Delap then had a comparable nightmare moment in front of goal against his old team.

He blocked a Phillips's kick which came off the bar, and Delap started to celebrate believing the ball had crossed the line. It had not, and by the time he realised, Hull's backline had responded to avert the threat.

Delap had his head in his hands after that miss, but he was immensely influential from there on out, registering 3 assists. The opening was for the opening goal as his pass set up Neto to score from range. Shortly after the restart, it was two as the forward's set-piece went directly in through the keeper's legs.

Tie Put Beyond Doubt and Focus Turns

Soon after Neto’s second goal, the tie was effectively ended as a magnificent dribble from the forward laid on his teammate to tap into an empty net. The hat-trick hero then completed his treble as Delap once again played the decisive ball for the striker to coolly convert by a stranded goalkeeper.

By that stage, the effort Hull had put in in the first half-hour had been forgotten. Their priority must now return to securing a return to the Premier League under their manager, who rested several key players with that aim in mind.

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

Hull showed plenty of effort to the end, and they nearly claimed a consolation when Lewis Koumas hit a post in injury time. But this was Chelsea’s night, and another positive step forward for their recently-appointed head coach at a stadium he is familiar with very well.

Cup History Are Good

The result made for an ultimately straightforward evening’s performance, and the cup competition omens are good from here for Chelsea. They have played Hull on three previous occasions in this competition in the past ten years and every single time, they have gone on to reach the final. Much still done in that regard, but this was another huge positive for Rosenior.