The Portuguese Forward Fires Treble as Chelsea Provide Manager The Boss with Joyous Homecoming to Hull City

Against a backdrop of sleet, flurries, and a biting wind off the banks of the Humber, combined with a determined home side pushing hard for a top-flight place, this presented all the makings of a challenging night's work for Chelsea.

"We could have scored more but Hull are a strong team and it was a difficult fixture; I am delighted with the performance," the manager stated. "This club is very special to me so it was great to get a good welcome from the fans of fans. The attitude of the lads was superb."

Liam Rosenior has this place dear to him, given part of his family hail from Hull and his successful spell in management of the Championship club. His positive association was extended with a commanding performance from his team, who ultimately strolled into the next round of the famous old competition.

Deadly Edge Seals Comprehensive Victory

Three days removed from surrendering a 2-0 lead in the league, there was a hint of vulnerability about them going into this intriguing tie. The capacity Hull crowd evidently felt it too, but Rosenior's men handled the challenge perfectly.

Rosenior made alterations, enacting seven of them to his XI. The tie could and maybe should have been decided earlier than it eventually was, with both the Brazilian winger and Liam Delap guilty of spurning excellent chances to put Chelsea ahead in the first half.

But, fortunately for the away team, Pedro Neto was in a much more clinical frame of mind. He broke the scoring with a spectacular distance strike, which proved to be the catalyst for his team to take command of the match. By the final whistle, they had four, with the forward scoring a trio of them for a superb three-goal haul.

The Forward's Response and Influence

The home side displayed great spirit throughout, but the better opportunities always came to the visitors. Estêvão ought to have opened the deadlock when he went past keeper Dillon Phillips before inexplicably firing over. Delap then had a similar nightmare incident in front of goal against his old team.

He deflected a Phillips's clearance which came off the crossbar, and Delap started to run away believing the ball had gone over the line. It had not, and by the time he understood, Hull's backline had reacted to avert the danger.

Delap had his head in his hands after that moment, but he was immensely instrumental from that point onward, registering three assists. The opening was for the opening goal as his through ball set up his teammate to score from outside the box. Six minutes after the second half began, it was 2-0 as Neto's set-piece went directly in under Phillips's legs.

Tie Put Beyond Doubt and Focus Shifts

Soon after the second goal, the tie was effectively ended as a magnificent run from the forward teed up Estêvão to tap into an empty net. The hat-trick hero then finished his treble as the provider once again played the decisive ball for the attacker to coolly slot past a stranded Phillips.

By that stage, the work Hull had put in in the first thirty minutes had long since forgotten. Their focus must now switch back to achieving a return to the top division under their manager, who left out a number of key players with that goal in mind.

"In my opinion we earned at least one goal but if we play like this we will be in a very good situation in the league," he said. "Keep fighting, maybe in the upcoming matches this can be a positive example of how we should play."

Hull showed plenty of effort to the final whistle, and they almost got a consolation when a substitute struck a post in injury time. But this was Chelsea’s night, and another encouraging stride for their new manager at a place he knows intimately.

FA Cup Omens Are Good

That made for an in the end routine night'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 every single time, they have progressed to make the showpiece. There is still work in that regard, but this was another huge tick for Rosenior.