The Portuguese Forward Scores Treble as The Blues Deliver Manager Rosenior with Joyous Homecoming to Hull

Amid sleet, snow, and a biting breeze off the banks of the Humber Estuary, alongside a determined home side fighting for promotion, this presented all the makings of a difficult evening’s task for Chelsea.

"We could have scored more but the opposition are a strong team and it was a difficult fixture; I am delighted with the display," the manager stated. "This club is very special to me so it was nice to get a positive welcome from the fans of fans. The application of the players was superb."

The Chelsea manager holds this city dear to him, considering some of his family are from Hull and his successful period in management of the Championship club. This positive association was extended with a commanding display from his squad, who ultimately sauntered into the fifth round of the famous old competition.

Clinical Edge Secures Comfortable Victory

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

The manager rang the changes, enacting multiple of them to his starting lineup. The match might and perhaps ought to have been settled earlier than it actually was, with two Estêvão Willian and the forward at fault for missing glorious chances to put their side ahead in the opening period.

However, fortunately for the visitors, Pedro Neto was in a far more ruthless mood. He opened the scoring with a marvellous long-range effort, which acted as the catalyst for Chelsea to assume control of proceedings. By the final whistle, they had four, with Neto netting a trio of them for a brilliant hat-trick.

The Forward's Redemption and Impact

Hull displayed great fight throughout, but the better chances always came Chelsea’s way. Estêvão ought to have opened the deadlock when he rounded keeper the Hull stopper before unbelievably firing over. The striker then had a similar nightmare moment in front of goal against his former club.

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

The player had his head in his hands after that miss, but he was hugely instrumental from there on out, providing three key passes. The first was for the opening goal as his pass teed up Neto to finish from range. Shortly after the second half began, it was 2-0 as the forward's set-piece went directly in under the keeper's legs.

Tie Put Beyond Doubt and Attention Turns

Seven minutes after Neto’s second, the tie was effectively ended as a dazzling dribble from Delap teed up Estêvão to tap into an unguarded goal. Neto then finished his hat-trick as the provider once again delivered the decisive ball for the attacker to coolly convert past a stranded Phillips.

By that stage, the work Hull had put in in the first thirty minutes had long since forgotten. Their priority must now switch back to securing a promotion to the Premier League under their manager, who rested several first-choice individuals with that aim in mind.

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

Hull showed plenty of effort to the final whistle, and they almost got a late goal when Lewis Koumas struck a post in stoppage time. But this was the Blues' night, and another positive stride for their new manager at a place he is familiar with very well.

FA Cup History Are Good

That resulted in an in the end routine night's performance, and the cup competition signs are positive from here for Chelsea. They have played Hull on three other occasions in this tournament in the last decade and every single time, they have gone on to make the final. There is still done in that respect, but this was another huge positive for the Chelsea boss.