Pedro Neto Fires Treble as Chelsea Deliver Liam Rosenior with Happy Return to Hull City

Against a backdrop of sleet, flurries, and a biting breeze from the waters of the Humber, alongside a determined home side fighting for promotion, this presented all the ingredients of a challenging evening’s task for Chelsea.

"We might have added to our tally but Hull are a strong team and it was a tough tie; I’m delighted with the performance," the manager stated. "This club means a lot to me so it was great to get a good welcome from both sets of supporters. The application of the players was superb."

Liam Rosenior has this place close to his heart, given some of his relatives are from Hull and his successful spell in management of the Championship club. This happy connection was extended with a commanding display from his team, who in the end sauntered into the next round of the FA Cup.

Deadly Finishing Secures Comprehensive Win

Three days removed from surrendering a two-goal lead in the Premier League, there was a sniff of fragility about Chelsea going into this intriguing cup clash. The packed Hull crowd clearly felt it too, but the London side navigated the challenge with ease.

Rosenior made alterations, enacting multiple of them to his starting lineup. The match might and perhaps ought to have been decided long before it eventually was, with both the Brazilian winger and Liam Delap guilty of missing excellent chances to put their side ahead in the opening period.

But, fortunately for the away team, Pedro Neto was in a far more clinical frame of mind. He opened the deadlock with a marvellous long-range effort, which proved to be the catalyst for Chelsea to assume command of the match. By full time, they had 4 goals, with the forward scoring a trio of them for a superb three-goal haul.

Delap's Redemption and Influence

The home side displayed plenty of spirit all game, but the clearer chances consistently fell to the visitors. The winger ought to have broken the deadlock when he rounded keeper Dillon Phillips before inexplicably shooting over. Delap then had a similar horror incident in front of goal against his old team.

He blocked a the goalkeeper's kick which bounced off the crossbar, and he began to celebrate believing the ball had gone over the line. It had not, and by the time he realised, Hull's defenders had reacted to clear the danger.

Delap had his head in his hands after that miss, but he was immensely influential from there on out, registering three assists. The opening was for the first goal as his pass teed up Neto to finish from range. Shortly after the restart, it was 2-0 as the forward's set-piece went straight in under Phillips's legs.

Tie Sealed and Attention Shifts

Seven minutes after Neto’s second, the tie was put beyond doubt as a dazzling dribble from the forward laid on Estêvão to tap into an empty net. The hat-trick hero then completed his hat-trick as Delap again played the decisive ball for the attacker to coolly slot by a helpless goalkeeper.

At that point, the work Hull had done in the first thirty minutes had been forgotten. Their focus must now switch back to securing a return to the top division under their manager, who rested a number of first-choice individuals with that aim in mind.

"In my opinion we earned at least one goal but if we play like this we will be in a strong position in the league," the Hull manager commented. "Never surrender, maybe in the next matches this can be a good lesson of how we should play."

There was great endeavour to the final whistle, and they almost got a consolation when Lewis Koumas struck a post in stoppage time. But this was the Blues' evening, and another encouraging stride for their new head coach at a stadium he is familiar with intimately.

Cup Omens Are Promising

That made for an in the end straightforward evening’s work, and the cup competition signs are positive from here for Chelsea. They have faced Hull on three previous occasions in this competition in the past ten years and every single time, 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.