The Portuguese Neto Fires Hat-Trick as Chelsea Provide Manager Rosenior with Happy Return to Hull

Amid sleet, flurries, and a biting breeze off the banks of the Humber, alongside a resolute home side pushing hard for a top-flight place, this had all the makings of a difficult evening’s work for Chelsea.

"We might have scored more but Hull are a strong team and it was a tough 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."

Liam Chelsea manager has this city close to his heart, given part of his relatives are from Hull and his successful period in management of the Tigers. His positive connection continued with a magnificent display from his squad, who ultimately strolled into the next round of the FA Cup.

Clinical Finishing Seals Comfortable Victory

Three days removed from letting slip a two-goal advantage in the Premier League, there was a sniff of vulnerability about Chelsea going into this potentially tricky tie. The capacity home crowd clearly sensed it too, but the London side navigated the task with ease.

The manager rang the changes, enacting seven of them to his XI. The tie might and perhaps ought to have been settled long before it actually was, with two the Brazilian winger and Liam Delap guilty of missing glorious opportunities to put their side ahead in the opening period.

But, fortunately for the away team, their Portuguese attacker was in a far more clinical frame of mind. He broke the deadlock with a spectacular long-range effort, which proved to be the catalyst for Chelsea to assume command of proceedings. By the final whistle, they had four, with the forward netting a trio of them for a superb hat-trick.

The Forward's Redemption and Impact

Hull displayed great fight throughout, but the clearer opportunities always fell Chelsea’s way. Estêvão ought to have opened the scoring when he went past goalkeeper Dillon Phillips before inexplicably firing over. The striker then had a comparable horror moment in front of goal against his old team.

He deflected a the goalkeeper's clearance which came off the bar, and he started to run away thinking the ball had crossed the line. It had not, and by the time he realised, Hull's defenders had responded to avert the threat.

Delap had his head in his hands after that miss, but he was hugely instrumental from there on out, providing 3 key passes. The opening was for the first goal as his through ball set up his teammate to finish from range. Six minutes after the second half began, it was two as the forward's corner went directly in through Phillips's legs.

Contest Sealed and Focus Shifts

Soon after Neto’s second goal, the tie was effectively ended as a magnificent run from the forward teed up Estêvão to tap into an unguarded goal. The hat-trick hero then finished his hat-trick as the provider again played the decisive pass for the striker to coolly convert by a stranded goalkeeper.

At that point, the effort Hull had done in the first half-hour had long since erased. Their focus must now return to achieving a return to the Premier League under Sergej Jakirovic, who left out several key individuals with that aim in mind.

"I think we deserved at least one goal but if we play like this we will be in a strong situation in the league," he said. "Never surrender, maybe in the next games this can be a good example of how we must play."

Hull showed great effort to the final whistle, and they almost got a consolation when a substitute struck a post in stoppage time. But this was the Blues' evening, and another positive stride for their recently-appointed manager at a stadium he is familiar with very well.

FA Cup History Are Good

That made for an ultimately straightforward night's work, and the cup competition omens are positive from here for the winners. They have faced Hull on three previous times in this competition in the past ten years and on each occasion, they have progressed to make the final. There is still done in that regard, but this was another huge tick for the Chelsea boss.