The Portuguese Forward Fires Treble as The Blues Provide Liam Rosenior with Happy Return to Hull City

Amid sleet, snow, and a biting wind from the banks of the Humber Estuary, alongside a determined home side fighting for a top-flight place, this presented all the ingredients of a challenging night's work for the visitors.

"We might have added to our tally but the opposition are a good team and it was a difficult tie; I am very pleased with the display," the manager stated. "Hull City means a lot to me so it was great to get a positive welcome from the fans of supporters. The attitude of the players was superb."

The Chelsea manager holds this city close to his heart, given part of his relatives are from Hull and his successful period in management of the Tigers. His happy connection continued with a commanding performance from his team, who ultimately sauntered into the next round of the FA Cup.

Clinical Finishing Seals Comfortable Win

Three days after surrendering a 2-0 advantage in the Premier League, there was a hint of fragility about Chelsea going into this potentially tricky cup clash. The capacity home support clearly sensed it too, but the London side navigated the task perfectly.

The manager rang the changes, making multiple of them to his XI. The match could and maybe ought to have been settled long before it eventually was, with two the Brazilian winger and Liam Delap at fault for missing glorious opportunities to put their side in front in the opening period.

However, luckily for the visitors, their Portuguese attacker was in a much more clinical mood. He opened 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 netting a trio of them for a brilliant hat-trick.

The Forward's Response and Impact

Hull showed great fight all game, but the better chances consistently fell to the visitors. The winger ought to have opened the deadlock when he rounded keeper the Hull stopper before unbelievably firing over. Delap then had a comparable nightmare incident in front of goal against his old team.

He deflected a the goalkeeper's kick which bounced back from the bar, and Delap began to run away thinking 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 immensely instrumental from that point onward, registering three key passes. The opening was for the first goal as his pass set up his teammate to score from outside the box. Shortly after the restart, it was two as Neto's corner went straight in through the keeper's legs.

Tie Sealed and Attention Shifts

Soon after the second goal, the match was put beyond doubt as a dazzling dribble from the forward laid on his teammate to slide into an empty net. Neto then completed his treble as Delap once again delivered the decisive ball for the striker to coolly slot past a helpless Phillips.

By that stage, the work Hull had done in the first half-hour had long since erased. Their focus must now return to securing a promotion to the top division under their manager, who left out several first-choice players with that aim in mind.

"In my opinion we deserved at least one goal but if we play like this we will be in a very good situation in the league," the Hull manager commented. "Never surrender, maybe in the next games this can be a positive example of how we should play."

There was great endeavour to the final whistle, and they nearly claimed a late goal when a substitute hit a the upright in injury time. But this was Chelsea’s evening, and another positive step forward for their recently-appointed manager at a stadium he is familiar with very well.

Cup Omens Look Good

The result made for an ultimately routine night's performance, and the cup competition signs are good from here for the winners. They have played Hull on three previous times in this competition in the last decade and on each occasion, they have gone on to make the final. There is remains to be work in that regard, but this was another significant tick for Rosenior.