The Portuguese Neto Scores Treble as Chelsea Provide Manager Rosenior with Happy Homecoming to Hull City

Against a backdrop of sleet, flurries, and a biting wind off the waters of the Humber, alongside a resolute Hull City side fighting for a top-flight place, this had all the ingredients of a difficult night's work for the visitors.

"We might have scored more but the opposition are a good team and it was a tough tie; I am very pleased with the performance," the manager stated. "This club is very special to me so it was nice to get a good reception from both sets of fans. The attitude of the lads was superb."

Liam Rosenior holds this city close to his heart, considering some of his family are from Hull and his successful period in management of the Tigers. His happy connection was extended with a commanding display from his team, who in the end sauntered into the fifth round of the FA Cup.

Deadly Edge Secures Comprehensive Win

Three days after letting slip a 2-0 lead in the league, there was a hint of fragility about Chelsea going into this potentially tricky cup clash. The capacity home support evidently felt it too, but the London side navigated the task with ease.

Rosenior made alterations, enacting multiple of them to his starting lineup. The tie could and maybe ought to have been settled earlier than it actually was, with two the Brazilian winger and Liam Delap guilty of spurning excellent opportunities to put Chelsea ahead in the first half.

However, luckily for the away team, their Portuguese attacker was in a far more ruthless mood. He broke the deadlock with a spectacular distance effort, which proved to be the catalyst for his team to take command of proceedings. By the final whistle, they had four, with the forward scoring three of them for a superb hat-trick.

Delap's Response and Impact

The home side displayed plenty of fight all game, but the better chances always came to the visitors. Estêvão should have opened the deadlock when he rounded keeper the Hull stopper before unbelievably firing over. The striker then had a similar horror moment in front of goal against his former club.

He deflected a the goalkeeper's kick which came back from the bar, and he began to run away believing the ball had crossed the line. It had not, and by the time he understood, Hull's backline had reacted to clear the danger.

Delap had his head in his hands after that moment, but he was immensely instrumental from there on out, providing 3 assists. The first was for the first goal as his through ball teed up Neto to score from range. Shortly after the restart, it was two as Neto's set-piece went straight in under Phillips's legs.

Contest Put Beyond Doubt and Attention Turns

Soon after Neto’s second, the match was effectively ended as a magnificent run from Delap laid on his teammate to tap into an empty net. Neto then finished his treble as the provider again delivered the decisive ball for the striker to coolly convert past a helpless goalkeeper.

At that point, the work Hull had put in in the first thirty minutes had long since erased. Their priority must now return to achieving a return to the top division under their manager, who left out several key players with that goal 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 league," he said. "Never surrender, maybe in the upcoming matches this can be a positive lesson of how we should play."

Hull showed great effort to the final whistle, and they nearly claimed a consolation when Lewis Koumas hit a post in stoppage time. But this was Chelsea’s evening, and another encouraging step forward for their new head coach at a stadium he is familiar with very well.

FA Cup History Are Good

The result resulted in an in the end routine evening’s work, and the cup competition signs are positive from here for the winners. They have faced Hull on three other times in this tournament in the last decade and every single time, they have gone on to reach the showpiece. Much still work in that regard, but this was another significant positive for Rosenior.