The Portuguese Forward Fires Hat-Trick as Chelsea Deliver Manager The Boss with Happy Return to Hull

Amid sleet, flurries, and a swirling breeze off the waters of the Humber, alongside a resolute Hull City side fighting for a top-flight place, this presented all the makings of a difficult evening’s work for Chelsea.

"We might have added to our tally but Hull are a strong team and it was a difficult fixture; I’m delighted with the performance," he said. "Hull City means a lot to me so it was nice to get a positive reception from both sets of fans. The attitude of the lads was superb."

The Chelsea manager holds this place dear to him, considering part of his relatives hail from Hull and his enjoyable spell in charge of the Tigers. This positive connection continued with a magnificent performance from his team, who ultimately strolled into the fifth round of the famous old competition.

Deadly Finishing Secures Comfortable Victory

Three days after surrendering a two-goal lead in the Premier League, there was a hint of fragility about them going into this intriguing cup clash. The capacity Hull crowd clearly sensed it too, but the London side navigated the task perfectly.

The manager made alterations, making seven of them to his XI. The tie could and perhaps should have been decided long before it eventually was, with both the Brazilian winger and Liam Delap at fault for missing excellent opportunities to put their side ahead in the opening period.

But, luckily for the away team, Pedro Neto was in a much more clinical mood. He opened the deadlock with a spectacular distance strike, which proved to be the spark for his team to take control of the match. By the final whistle, they had four, with the forward netting a trio of them for a brilliant hat-trick.

Delap's Redemption and Impact

The home side displayed plenty of spirit all game, but the better chances always came to the visitors. Estêvão should have broken the deadlock when he went past keeper the Hull stopper before inexplicably shooting over. Delap then had a comparable horror incident in front of goal against his old team.

He blocked a Phillips's clearance which came back from the crossbar, and Delap started to celebrate believing the ball had gone over the line. It hadn’t, and by the time he understood, Hull's backline had reacted to clear the danger.

Delap had his head in his hands after that miss, but he was hugely influential from that point onward, providing 3 key passes. The first was for the opening goal as his through ball teed up Neto to finish from range. Six minutes after the second half began, it was 2-0 as the forward's corner went straight in through the keeper's legs.

Contest Sealed and Focus Shifts

Seven minutes after the second goal, the tie was effectively ended as a dazzling dribble from Delap teed up his teammate to tap into an empty net. The hat-trick hero then completed his hat-trick as Delap again delivered the crucial pass for the attacker to calmly slot past a helpless Phillips.

At that point, the work Hull had done in the opening thirty minutes had long since erased. Their priority must now switch back to achieving a return to the top division under their manager, who rested a number of key players 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 very good position in the Championship," the Hull manager commented. "Never surrender, maybe in the next matches this can be a positive lesson of how we must play."

There was plenty of effort to the end, and they almost claimed a consolation when Lewis Koumas struck a the upright in stoppage time. But this was the Blues' evening, and another positive stride for their new head coach at a stadium he is familiar with intimately.

Cup History Are Promising

That resulted in an ultimately straightforward night's work, and the cup competition signs are positive from here for the winners. They have played Hull on three previous times in this tournament in the last decade and every single time, they have gone on to reach the showpiece. There is remains to be work in that respect, but this was another huge tick for Rosenior.