Pedro Neto Scores Treble as The Blues Deliver Manager The Boss with Joyous Return to Hull City

Against a backdrop of freezing rain, flurries, and a biting breeze from the waters of the Humber, combined with a determined home side fighting for promotion, this had all the makings of a challenging night's task for Chelsea.

"We could have scored more but Hull are a good team and it was a difficult tie; I’m very pleased with the display," the manager stated. "This club is very special to me so it was nice to get a positive welcome from both sets of supporters. The application of the players was superb."

The Rosenior has this city dear to him, given part of his family hail from Hull and his successful period in charge of the Championship club. This happy association continued with a magnificent performance from his team, who ultimately strolled into the fifth round of the FA Cup.

Clinical Edge Secures Comprehensive Victory

Seventy-two hours after letting slip a two-goal advantage in the league, there was a sniff of vulnerability about Chelsea going into this intriguing tie. The packed Hull crowd clearly felt it too, but the London side navigated the challenge with ease.

The manager rang the changes, making seven of them to his XI. The tie might and perhaps ought to have been decided earlier than it actually was, with two the Brazilian winger and Liam Delap guilty of spurning glorious opportunities to put Chelsea in front in the opening period.

But, luckily for the visitors, Pedro Neto was in a far more ruthless mood. He opened the deadlock with a spectacular distance strike, which proved to be the catalyst for Chelsea to take command of proceedings. By full time, they had 4 goals, with Neto scoring a trio of them for a superb three-goal haul.

Delap's Redemption and Influence

Hull showed great fight throughout, but the clearer opportunities always came to the visitors. Estêvão ought to have broken the scoring when he went past goalkeeper the Hull stopper before unbelievably shooting over. The striker then had a comparable nightmare moment in front of goal against his old team.

He blocked a the goalkeeper's clearance which bounced off the crossbar, and Delap began to run away thinking the ball had crossed the line. It hadn’t, and by the time he understood, Hull's backline had responded to avert the danger.

Delap had his head in his hands after that moment, but he was immensely influential from that point onward, providing 3 assists. The first was for the opening goal as his pass set up Neto to score from outside the box. Six minutes after the second half began, it was two as Neto's set-piece went directly in through the keeper's legs.

Contest Put Beyond Doubt and Focus Turns

Soon after the second goal, the match was put beyond doubt as a dazzling run from Delap teed up his teammate to slide into an unguarded goal. The hat-trick hero then completed his hat-trick as the provider again played the crucial pass for the striker to calmly convert by a helpless Phillips.

At that point, the work Hull had put in in the opening thirty minutes had been erased. Their focus must now switch back to securing a return to the Premier League under their manager, who left out a number of key players with that aim in mind.

"I think we deserved at least one goal but if we perform like this we will be in a very good position in the Championship," he said. "Keep fighting, maybe in the upcoming games this can be a good lesson of how we should play."

There was plenty of effort to the end, and they nearly claimed a consolation when Lewis Koumas hit a the upright in stoppage time. But this was the Blues' evening, and another positive stride for their recently-appointed manager at a place he knows very well.

FA Cup History Look Good

The result resulted in an in the end routine night's work, and the FA Cup-shaped omens are good from here for the winners. They have played Hull on three other occasions in this competition in the past ten years and every single time, they have progressed to make the final. There is still done in that respect, but this was another huge tick for the Chelsea boss.