The Portuguese Neto Fires Treble as Chelsea Deliver Liam The Boss with Joyous Homecoming to Hull

Amid sleet, flurries, and a biting breeze off the waters of the Humber, alongside a determined home side pushing hard for a top-flight place, this presented all the ingredients of a challenging evening’s work for the visitors.

"We might have scored more but the opposition are a strong team and it was a difficult fixture; I am delighted with the performance," he said. "Hull City is very special to me so it was nice to get a good reception from both sets of supporters. The application of the players was superb."

Liam Rosenior has this place dear to him, given part of his family hail from Hull and his enjoyable period in charge of the Championship club. His happy connection continued with a magnificent display from his squad, who ultimately sauntered into the next round of the FA Cup.

Deadly Edge Seals Comfortable Win

Three days after letting slip a two-goal lead 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 challenge perfectly.

The manager rang the changes, enacting multiple of them to his XI. The match might and perhaps should have been settled earlier than it actually was, with two the Brazilian winger and Liam Delap guilty of missing excellent chances to put their side in front in the first half.

But, fortunately for the visitors, Pedro Neto was in a much more clinical mood. He broke the deadlock with a spectacular distance effort, which proved to be the catalyst for his team to assume control of the match. By full time, they had 4 goals, with Neto 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 Chelsea’s way. Estêvão ought to have opened the deadlock when he went past goalkeeper the Hull stopper before inexplicably shooting over. The striker then had a comparable nightmare incident in front of goal against his former club.

He blocked a Phillips's kick which bounced back from the crossbar, and Delap began 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 threat.

Delap had his head in his hands after that miss, but he was hugely instrumental from that point onward, providing 3 key passes. The opening was for the opening goal as his pass set up Neto to finish from range. Six minutes after the restart, it was 2-0 as Neto's set-piece went directly in under Phillips's legs.

Contest Sealed and Attention Shifts

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

At that point, the work Hull had put in in the first thirty minutes had long since forgotten. Their focus must now return to achieving a promotion to the Premier League under their manager, who rested several first-choice players with that goal in mind.

"I think we earned at least one goal but if we perform like this we will be in a very good position 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."

Hull showed great effort to the end, and they almost claimed a consolation when Lewis Koumas struck a post in stoppage time. But this was the Blues' evening, and another positive step forward for their new head coach at a stadium he is familiar with intimately.

Cup Omens Are Promising

That resulted in an in the end routine night's performance, and the cup competition signs are good from here for Chelsea. They have faced Hull on three previous occasions in this competition in the last decade and every single time, they have gone on to make the final. There is remains to be done in that regard, but this was another huge tick for the Chelsea boss.