The Portuguese Neto Scores Hat-Trick as The Blues Deliver Manager Rosenior with Happy Homecoming to Hull City

Amid sleet, flurries, and a swirling wind from the banks of the Humber Estuary, alongside a determined home side fighting for promotion, this presented all the makings of a challenging evening’s work for Chelsea.

"We could have scored more but Hull are a good team and it was a difficult fixture; I am very pleased with the display," the manager stated. "This club means a lot to me so it was nice to get a good reception from the fans of fans. The attitude of the players was superb."

Liam Chelsea manager has this place dear to him, given some of his family hail from Hull and his successful period in charge of the Championship club. His positive connection continued with a magnificent display from his squad, who ultimately strolled into the fifth round of the famous old competition.

Clinical Finishing Secures Comfortable Victory

Three days removed from letting slip a 2-0 advantage in the league, there was a hint of fragility about them going into this intriguing tie. The packed home support clearly felt it too, but Rosenior's men navigated the challenge perfectly.

The manager made alterations, making multiple of them to his starting lineup. The match might and perhaps should have been settled long before it actually was, with both Estêvão Willian and the forward guilty of missing glorious chances to put Chelsea in front in the first half.

But, fortunately for the visitors, Pedro Neto was in a much more ruthless frame of mind. He opened the scoring with a marvellous long-range strike, which proved to be the spark for his team to take command of proceedings. By the final whistle, they had 4 goals, with Neto netting a trio of them for a superb three-goal haul.

The Forward's Response and Impact

The home side displayed great fight throughout, but the clearer chances consistently came to the visitors. The winger ought to have opened the scoring when he rounded goalkeeper Dillon Phillips before inexplicably firing over. Delap then had a similar horror moment in front of goal against his former club.

He blocked a the goalkeeper's kick which bounced back from the crossbar, and he began to celebrate believing the ball had gone over the line. It had not, and by the time he realised, Hull's defenders had responded to avert the danger.

The player had his head in his hands after that miss, but he was hugely influential from that point onward, registering three assists. The first was for the first goal as his through ball teed up his teammate to finish from outside the box. Shortly after the second half began, it was two as Neto's set-piece went straight in under Phillips's legs.

Tie Put Beyond Doubt and Focus Turns

Seven minutes after the second, the tie was put beyond doubt as a magnificent run from the forward teed up his teammate to tap into an empty net. The hat-trick hero then finished his hat-trick as the provider again delivered the crucial ball for the striker to calmly slot by a stranded goalkeeper.

By that stage, the effort Hull had put in in the first half-hour had been erased. Their priority must now switch back to securing a return to the top division under Sergej Jakirovic, who left out a number of first-choice players with that goal in mind.

"In my opinion we deserved at least one goal but if we play like this we will be in a very good situation in the Championship," the Hull manager commented. "Never surrender, maybe in the upcoming matches this can be a good example of how we must play."

There was plenty of effort to the final whistle, and they almost got a consolation when a substitute hit a post in stoppage time. But this was Chelsea’s evening, and another positive step forward for their new head coach at a stadium he knows very well.

FA Cup Omens Look Promising

That resulted in an in the end straightforward evening’s work, and the FA Cup-shaped signs are good from here for Chelsea. They have played Hull on three other occasions in this competition in the past ten years and on each occasion, they have progressed to make the showpiece. Much still work in that regard, but this was another huge tick for the Chelsea boss.