The Portuguese Forward Scores Treble as The Blues Provide Manager Rosenior with Happy Return to Hull City

Amid freezing rain, snow, and a swirling wind off the waters of the Humber Estuary, combined with a resolute Hull City side fighting for promotion, this had all the ingredients of a challenging evening’s task for the visitors.

"We could have added to our tally but Hull are a good team and it was a tough fixture; I am very pleased with the display," the manager stated. "This club is very special to me so it was nice to get a good welcome from the fans of supporters. The attitude of the lads was excellent."

The Chelsea manager has this city close to his heart, given part of his family hail from Hull and his successful period in charge of the Championship club. His happy association was extended with a magnificent performance from his squad, who in the end strolled into the next round of the FA Cup.

Clinical Finishing Seals Comfortable Win

Three days removed from surrendering a two-goal advantage in the Premier League, there was a sniff of vulnerability about Chelsea going into this potentially tricky tie. The capacity Hull support evidently felt it too, but the London side handled the task perfectly.

Rosenior made alterations, enacting multiple of them to his starting lineup. The match could and perhaps ought to have been decided earlier than it actually was, with both the Brazilian winger and the forward at fault for missing glorious chances to put their side in front in the opening period.

However, fortunately for the visitors, Pedro Neto was in a far more ruthless mood. He broke the scoring with a spectacular distance effort, which proved to be the spark for Chelsea to take command of proceedings. By full time, they had 4 goals, with the forward scoring 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 fell to the visitors. The winger should have opened the scoring when he rounded goalkeeper the Hull stopper before inexplicably firing over. Delap then had a similar nightmare moment in front of goal against his old team.

He deflected a Phillips's clearance which bounced off the bar, and Delap started to celebrate thinking the ball had gone over the line. It hadn’t, and by the time he understood, Hull's defenders had reacted to avert the threat.

The player had his head in his hands after that miss, but he was immensely influential from there on out, registering three assists. The opening was for the first goal as his through ball teed up Neto to finish from range. Shortly after the restart, it was 2-0 as the forward's corner went straight in under the keeper's legs.

Contest Put Beyond Doubt and Attention Turns

Soon after Neto’s second goal, the tie was put beyond doubt as a magnificent dribble from the forward teed up his teammate to tap into an empty net. The hat-trick hero then finished his treble as the provider once again played the crucial pass for the attacker to coolly slot past a helpless Phillips.

By that stage, the effort Hull had put in in the first half-hour had been forgotten. Their focus must now switch back to achieving a return to the top division under their manager, who rested several key players with that aim in mind.

"In my opinion we deserved at least one goal but if we perform like this we will be in a strong situation in the league," the Hull manager commented. "Never surrender, maybe in the next games this can be a positive lesson of how we should play."

There was great endeavour to the end, and they nearly got a consolation when a substitute struck a post in injury time. But this was the Blues' night, and another positive stride for their recently-appointed manager at a stadium he is familiar with intimately.

Cup Omens Look Promising

The result resulted in an ultimately straightforward night's performance, and the cup competition omens are good from here for Chelsea. They have faced Hull on three other occasions in this competition in the last decade and on each occasion, they have progressed to make the showpiece. There is remains to be done in that respect, but this was another huge tick for Rosenior.