The Portuguese Neto Fires Hat-Trick as Chelsea Deliver Manager Rosenior with Happy Homecoming to Hull

Amid sleet, snow, and a swirling wind off the banks of the Humber, combined with a determined home side pushing hard for promotion, this had all the ingredients of a difficult night's work for the visitors.

"We might have scored more but Hull are a strong team and it was a tough fixture; I am delighted with the performance," the manager stated. "Hull City 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."

Liam Rosenior has this place dear to him, considering part of his family are from Hull and his successful period in management of the Championship club. This happy association continued with a commanding display from his squad, who in the end sauntered into the next round of the famous old competition.

Deadly Finishing Secures Comprehensive Win

Three days after surrendering a 2-0 lead in the league, there was a hint of vulnerability about Chelsea going into this intriguing tie. The packed Hull crowd clearly sensed it too, but the London side handled the challenge perfectly.

Rosenior rang the changes, enacting multiple of them to his starting lineup. The match might and maybe ought to have been decided long before it eventually was, with two the Brazilian winger and the forward guilty of spurning glorious chances to put their side ahead in the opening period.

But, fortunately for the away team, their Portuguese attacker was in a much more clinical mood. He opened the deadlock with a spectacular long-range effort, which proved to be the spark for his team to assume control of the match. By the final whistle, they had 4 goals, with Neto scoring a trio of them for a brilliant three-goal haul.

Delap's Redemption and Impact

The home side showed great fight throughout, but the better opportunities consistently came to the visitors. The winger ought to have broken the deadlock when he rounded goalkeeper the Hull stopper before inexplicably firing over. The striker then had a comparable horror incident in front of goal against his former club.

He blocked a Phillips's kick which came back from the bar, and Delap began to run away believing the ball had gone over the line. It had not, and by the time he understood, Hull's defenders had reacted to avert the threat.

Delap had his head in his hands after that moment, but he was hugely influential from there on out, providing 3 assists. The opening was for the opening goal as his pass teed up his teammate to finish from outside the box. Shortly after the restart, it was two as Neto's corner went directly in under Phillips's legs.

Contest Put Beyond Doubt and Attention Shifts

Soon after Neto’s second, the tie was put beyond doubt as a dazzling run from Delap laid on Estêvão to slide into an empty net. The hat-trick hero then completed his hat-trick as Delap again delivered the crucial pass for the attacker to calmly slot past a stranded Phillips.

By that stage, the effort Hull had done in the first thirty minutes had been erased. Their priority must now switch back to achieving a return to the Premier League under their manager, who left out a number of key players with that goal in mind.

"In my opinion we deserved at least one goal but if we perform like this we will be in a very good position in the league," he said. "Never surrender, maybe in the upcoming games this can be a positive lesson of how we should play."

Hull showed plenty of effort to the end, and they almost got a consolation when a substitute struck a post in injury time. But this was the Blues' night, and another encouraging stride for their new manager at a place he is familiar with intimately.

Cup History Are Promising

That made for an ultimately routine evening’s performance, and the FA Cup-shaped signs are positive from here for Chelsea. They have faced Hull on three previous occasions in this tournament in the last decade and on each occasion, they have progressed to reach the showpiece. There is remains to be done in that respect, but this was another huge positive for Rosenior.