Pedro Neto Scores Treble as Chelsea Deliver Manager Rosenior with Joyous Return to Hull City

Against a backdrop of sleet, snow, and a biting wind from the waters of the Humber Estuary, alongside a determined Hull City side pushing hard for a top-flight place, this presented all the ingredients of a difficult night's task for the visitors.

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

Liam Rosenior has this city close to his heart, considering part of his family are from Hull and his enjoyable period in management of the Tigers. This positive association continued with a magnificent display from his squad, who in the end sauntered into the next round of the FA Cup.

Deadly Edge Seals Comfortable Win

Seventy-two hours removed from surrendering a 2-0 lead in the league, there was a sniff of vulnerability about Chelsea going into this potentially tricky tie. The capacity Hull support evidently felt it too, but Rosenior's men navigated the task perfectly.

The manager rang the changes, enacting multiple of them to his starting lineup. The match might and maybe ought to have been decided earlier than it actually was, with both the Brazilian winger and Liam Delap guilty of missing excellent opportunities to put their side ahead in the first half.

But, luckily for the visitors, Pedro Neto was in a far more clinical frame of mind. He broke the scoring with a marvellous distance effort, which proved to be the spark for Chelsea to take control of proceedings. By full time, they had 4 goals, with the forward netting three of them for a brilliant three-goal haul.

Delap's Response and Influence

The home side showed plenty of fight throughout, but the clearer opportunities always came Chelsea’s way. Estêvão should have broken the deadlock when he went past keeper the Hull stopper before unbelievably shooting over. The striker then had a similar nightmare moment in front of goal against his old team.

He deflected a Phillips's clearance which bounced off the crossbar, and Delap began to run away believing the ball had crossed the line. It had not, and by the time he realised, Hull's defenders had reacted to avert the threat.

Delap had his head in his hands after that moment, but he was hugely instrumental from there on out, providing 3 assists. The opening was for the opening goal as his through ball set up his teammate to finish from range. Six minutes after the restart, it was 2-0 as Neto's set-piece went directly in through Phillips's legs.

Contest Sealed and Attention Turns

Seven minutes after the second goal, the match was put beyond doubt as a dazzling run from Delap teed up his teammate to slide into an empty net. The hat-trick hero then completed his hat-trick as Delap once again delivered the crucial ball for the attacker to calmly convert past a helpless goalkeeper.

By that stage, the effort Hull had put in in the first thirty minutes had been erased. Their focus must now return to securing a promotion to the Premier League under their manager, who rested a number of 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 Championship," the Hull manager commented. "Keep fighting, maybe in the upcoming games this can be a positive lesson of how we must play."

There was great endeavour to the end, and they almost claimed a late goal when a substitute struck a the upright in injury time. But this was Chelsea’s evening, and another positive stride for their recently-appointed manager at a place he knows very well.

Cup Omens Look Good

The result made for an in the end straightforward night's performance, and the FA Cup-shaped omens are good from here for the winners. They have faced Hull on three other times in this tournament in the last decade and on each occasion, they have gone on to make the showpiece. Much remains to be work in that regard, but this was another significant tick for Rosenior.