The Portuguese Neto Fires Hat-Trick as The Blues Deliver Liam Rosenior with Joyous Homecoming to Hull City

Against a backdrop of freezing rain, snow, and a biting wind off the waters of the Humber Estuary, combined with a resolute Hull City side pushing hard for promotion, this had all the ingredients of a challenging night's task for Chelsea.

"We could have added to our tally but Hull are a strong team and it was a difficult tie; I’m very pleased with the performance," he said. "Hull City means a lot to me so it was great to get a positive welcome from the fans of supporters. The application of the players was excellent."

The Chelsea manager has this place close to his heart, given part of his family are from Hull and his successful spell in management of the Tigers. This happy association continued with a magnificent display from his team, who ultimately strolled into the fifth round of the famous old competition.

Deadly Finishing Secures Comprehensive Win

Three days after letting slip a 2-0 advantage in the Premier League, there was a hint of fragility about Chelsea going into this intriguing tie. The packed Hull crowd clearly felt it too, but the London side navigated the task perfectly.

The manager made alterations, making seven of them to his XI. The tie could and perhaps ought to have been decided earlier than it actually was, with two Estêvão Willian and the forward guilty of spurning excellent chances to put their side ahead in the opening period.

However, luckily for the away team, Pedro Neto was in a much more ruthless mood. He opened the scoring with a spectacular distance effort, which acted as the spark for Chelsea to assume command of the match. By full time, they had four, with the forward scoring three of them for a brilliant hat-trick.

The Forward's Redemption and Impact

The home side showed great fight all game, but the clearer opportunities always fell to the visitors. The winger ought to have broken the scoring when he rounded keeper Dillon Phillips before inexplicably shooting over. Delap then had a comparable horror incident in front of goal against his old team.

He blocked a the goalkeeper's kick which bounced back from the crossbar, and Delap began to celebrate believing the ball had gone over the line. It had not, and by the time he realised, Hull's backline had reacted to clear the threat.

Delap had his head in his hands after that miss, but he was immensely instrumental from that point onward, providing three assists. The opening was for the opening goal as his pass teed up Neto to score from range. Shortly after the second half began, it was 2-0 as Neto's corner went straight in under Phillips's legs.

Contest Put Beyond Doubt and Attention Turns

Soon after Neto’s second, the tie was effectively ended as a magnificent dribble from the forward teed up his teammate to slide into an empty net. The hat-trick hero then finished his treble as Delap again delivered the decisive pass for the attacker to coolly slot by a stranded goalkeeper.

At that point, the effort Hull had put in in the opening half-hour had been erased. Their priority must now switch back to achieving a return to the top division under Sergej Jakirovic, who rested several key players with that goal 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 Championship," the Hull manager commented. "Keep fighting, maybe in the next games this can be a good lesson of how we must play."

There was plenty of effort to the final whistle, and they almost claimed a consolation when Lewis Koumas hit a the upright in stoppage time. But this was Chelsea’s night, and another positive step forward for their recently-appointed head coach at a place he is familiar with intimately.

Cup Omens Look Promising

That made for an in the end routine evening’s work, and the FA Cup-shaped signs are positive from here for Chelsea. They have played Hull on three other times in this competition in the past ten years and every single time, they have gone on to make the showpiece. There is remains to be done in that respect, but this was another huge tick for Rosenior.