Pedro Neto Fires Treble as The Blues Deliver Manager Rosenior with Joyous Return to Hull City

Amid sleet, flurries, and a swirling breeze from the waters of the Humber Estuary, alongside a resolute home side fighting for promotion, this presented all the ingredients of a challenging evening’s task for Chelsea.

"We might have added to our tally but the opposition are a good team and it was a tough fixture; I’m very pleased with the display," the manager stated. "Hull City means a lot to me so it was nice to get a good reception from both sets of fans. The attitude of the players was excellent."

Liam Chelsea manager holds this place close to his heart, considering some of his relatives hail from Hull and his enjoyable period in charge of the Championship club. This positive connection was extended with a magnificent performance from his squad, who ultimately strolled into the next round of the FA Cup.

Clinical Finishing Seals Comprehensive Win

Seventy-two hours removed from surrendering a 2-0 advantage in the Premier League, there was a hint of fragility about them going into this intriguing cup clash. The capacity home crowd evidently felt it too, but the London side navigated the challenge perfectly.

The manager made alterations, enacting multiple of them to his XI. The match could and maybe should have been decided earlier than it actually was, with two the Brazilian winger and Liam Delap at fault for spurning glorious opportunities to put their side ahead in the first half.

However, fortunately for the visitors, their Portuguese attacker was in a far more clinical mood. He broke the scoring with a spectacular long-range effort, which acted as the spark for his team to take control of the match. By the final whistle, they had 4 goals, with Neto netting a trio of them for a brilliant three-goal haul.

The Forward's Redemption and Influence

The home side displayed plenty of spirit throughout, but the clearer opportunities always fell to the visitors. The winger should have broken the deadlock when he rounded keeper Dillon Phillips before inexplicably shooting over. Delap then had a similar nightmare incident in front of goal against his former club.

He deflected a the goalkeeper's clearance which came back from the crossbar, and Delap started to celebrate thinking the ball had gone over the line. It hadn’t, and by the time he understood, Hull's backline had responded to clear the danger.

The player had his head in his hands after that miss, but he was immensely influential from that point onward, registering 3 assists. The first was for the opening goal as his pass teed up his teammate to score from outside the box. Six minutes after the restart, it was two as Neto's set-piece went directly in under Phillips's legs.

Contest Put Beyond Doubt and Attention Shifts

Seven minutes after the second, the match was put beyond doubt as a magnificent dribble from Delap laid on Estêvão to slide into an empty net. Neto then finished his hat-trick as Delap once again delivered the crucial pass for the striker to calmly convert by a helpless goalkeeper.

At that point, the work Hull had done in the opening half-hour had long since forgotten. Their priority must now return to securing a return to the top division under Sergej Jakirovic, who rested a number of key individuals with that aim in mind.

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

There was plenty of effort to the end, and they almost got a consolation when Lewis Koumas struck a the upright in injury time. But this was Chelsea’s night, and another positive stride for their new manager at a stadium he knows very well.

Cup History Look Good

The result made for an in the end straightforward evening’s work, and the FA Cup-shaped signs are positive from here for the winners. They have played Hull on three previous times in this tournament in the last decade and on each occasion, they have progressed to make the final. There is still work in that regard, but this was another significant tick for Rosenior.