The Portuguese Neto Fires Treble as The Blues Deliver Liam Rosenior with Joyous Homecoming to Hull

Amid sleet, flurries, and a swirling wind from the banks of the Humber, alongside a resolute Hull City side pushing hard for promotion, this presented all the ingredients of a challenging night's work for Chelsea.

"We could have added to our tally but Hull are a strong team and it was a difficult tie; I am delighted with the performance," he said. "This club means a lot to me so it was nice to get a positive reception from both sets of fans. The application of the lads was superb."

Liam Chelsea manager has this place dear to him, given part of his relatives are from Hull and his enjoyable spell in charge of the Championship club. This happy association was extended 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 lead in the Premier League, there was a hint of fragility about them going into this potentially tricky cup clash. The packed Hull crowd evidently sensed it too, but the London side handled the challenge with ease.

The manager made alterations, enacting seven of them to his starting lineup. The tie could and perhaps should have been decided long before it eventually was, with two the Brazilian winger and Liam Delap at fault for missing excellent chances to put Chelsea ahead in the first half.

However, fortunately for the visitors, their Portuguese attacker was in a far more ruthless mood. He opened the scoring with a spectacular long-range strike, which acted as the catalyst for his team to assume command of proceedings. By the final whistle, they had four, with Neto scoring a trio of them for a brilliant hat-trick.

Delap's Redemption and Influence

Hull displayed plenty of spirit all game, but the clearer opportunities always came Chelsea’s way. Estêvão should have broken the scoring when he rounded goalkeeper Dillon Phillips before unbelievably shooting over. The striker then had a comparable horror incident in front of goal against his old team.

He blocked a Phillips's clearance which came off the bar, and Delap started to run away thinking the ball had crossed the line. It hadn’t, and by the time he realised, Hull's defenders had responded to clear the threat.

Delap had his head in his hands after that miss, but he was immensely influential from that point onward, registering 3 assists. The opening was for the opening goal as his through ball teed up Neto to score from range. Six minutes after the restart, it was two as Neto's corner went directly in under the keeper's legs.

Contest Put Beyond Doubt and Focus Turns

Soon after Neto’s second goal, the match was effectively ended as a magnificent run from the forward teed up Estêvão to tap into an unguarded goal. Neto then completed his treble as the provider again delivered the crucial pass for the striker to calmly slot past a stranded Phillips.

By that stage, the work Hull had done in the opening half-hour had been forgotten. Their focus must now switch back to achieving a promotion to the top division under Sergej Jakirovic, who rested several key players with that goal in mind.

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

Hull showed great effort to the end, and they nearly got a late goal when a substitute struck a post in injury time. But this was the Blues' night, and another positive stride for their new manager at a place he knows very well.

FA Cup Omens Look Good

The result resulted in an in the end straightforward evening’s work, and the FA Cup-shaped omens are positive from here for the winners. They have played Hull on three other occasions in this competition in the past ten years and on each occasion, they have gone on to reach the final. There is remains to be work in that regard, but this was another significant positive for the Chelsea boss.