The Portuguese Forward Scores Hat-Trick as The Blues Deliver Liam Rosenior with Happy Homecoming to Hull

Against a backdrop of freezing rain, snow, and a biting breeze off the banks of the Humber Estuary, alongside a determined home side pushing hard for a top-flight place, this had all the ingredients of a challenging night's work for Chelsea.

"We could have scored more but Hull are a strong team and it was a tough fixture; I am delighted with the performance," he said. "This club means a lot to me so it was great to get a positive reception from the fans of fans. The application of the lads was excellent."

Liam Chelsea manager has this place close to his heart, considering some of his relatives hail from Hull and his enjoyable period in management of the Tigers. His positive connection was extended with a magnificent display from his team, who in the end sauntered into the next round of the famous old competition.

Deadly Finishing Secures Comfortable Victory

Three days removed from surrendering a 2-0 advantage in the league, there was a hint of vulnerability about them going into this intriguing cup clash. The capacity home support clearly felt it too, but Rosenior's men navigated the challenge with ease.

Rosenior made alterations, making seven of them to his XI. The match could and perhaps ought to have been settled earlier than it actually was, with both Estêvão Willian and the forward guilty of missing excellent chances to put Chelsea ahead in the first half.

However, fortunately for the away team, Pedro Neto was in a much more ruthless frame of mind. He broke the deadlock with a spectacular long-range effort, which acted as the spark for his team to take control of the match. By the final whistle, they had four, with the forward scoring a trio of them for a superb three-goal haul.

Delap's Response and Influence

The home side showed plenty of fight throughout, but the better opportunities consistently came Chelsea’s way. The winger should have broken the scoring when he rounded keeper the Hull stopper before inexplicably firing over. Delap then had a comparable horror moment in front of goal against his former club.

He deflected a Phillips's clearance which bounced off the bar, and Delap began to celebrate thinking the ball had crossed the line. It hadn’t, and by the time he understood, Hull's backline had responded to clear the threat.

The player had his head in his hands after that moment, but he was immensely instrumental from that point onward, providing three assists. The opening was for the first goal as his through ball set up his teammate to finish from outside the box. Shortly after the restart, it was two as Neto's corner went straight in through Phillips's legs.

Tie Sealed and Attention Shifts

Soon after the second, the tie was effectively ended as a dazzling run from Delap laid on Estêvão to tap into an unguarded goal. The hat-trick hero then completed his hat-trick as Delap once again delivered the decisive ball for the attacker to coolly slot past a helpless goalkeeper.

By that stage, the effort Hull had done in the opening half-hour had long since erased. Their priority must now switch back to securing a return to the Premier League under their manager, who rested several key players with that goal in mind.

"In my opinion we deserved at least one goal but if we play like this we will be in a very good situation in the Championship," the Hull manager commented. "Keep fighting, maybe in the upcoming games this can be a good lesson of how we should play."

There was plenty of endeavour to the end, and they nearly claimed a consolation when Lewis Koumas hit a post in stoppage time. But this was the Blues' night, and another encouraging step forward for their recently-appointed head coach at a stadium he knows very well.

FA Cup History Are Good

That made for an ultimately straightforward evening’s work, and the FA Cup-shaped omens are good from here for the winners. They have faced Hull on three other occasions in this tournament in the last decade and every single time, they have progressed to reach the final. There is still work in that respect, but this was another significant positive for the Chelsea boss.