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

Amid freezing rain, flurries, and a swirling wind off the waters of the Humber, alongside a resolute Hull City side fighting for promotion, this had all the ingredients of a challenging night's work for the visitors.

"We might have added to our tally but the opposition are a strong team and it was a tough tie; I’m very pleased with the display," he said. "Hull City 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 Rosenior holds this place close to his heart, given some of his family hail from Hull and his successful period in management of the Championship club. His positive association was extended with a magnificent performance from his squad, who in the end sauntered into the next round of the famous old competition.

Clinical Edge Secures Comprehensive Win

Three days after surrendering a two-goal advantage in the Premier League, there was a hint of vulnerability about Chelsea going into this intriguing tie. The packed home support clearly felt it too, but the London side navigated the challenge with ease.

Rosenior rang the changes, making multiple of them to his starting lineup. The tie could and perhaps should have been settled earlier than it actually was, with both the Brazilian winger and Liam Delap at fault for missing glorious opportunities to put their side in front in the opening period.

But, luckily for the away team, Pedro Neto was in a far more clinical mood. He opened the deadlock with a marvellous long-range strike, which proved to be the spark for Chelsea to take command of proceedings. By the final whistle, they had 4 goals, with the forward netting a trio of them for a brilliant hat-trick.

Delap's Redemption and Influence

The home side showed great fight all game, but the clearer opportunities consistently came Chelsea’s way. Estêvão should have broken the deadlock when he rounded keeper Dillon Phillips before unbelievably firing over. Delap then had a comparable horror moment in front of goal against his old team.

He blocked a the goalkeeper's clearance which bounced back from the crossbar, and Delap began to celebrate thinking the ball had crossed the line. It hadn’t, and by the time he realised, Hull's backline had reacted to avert the threat.

Delap had his head in his hands after that miss, but he was immensely influential from there on out, providing 3 key passes. The first was for the first goal as his through ball teed up his teammate to score from outside the box. Six minutes after the restart, it was two as Neto's corner went straight in under Phillips's legs.

Tie Sealed and Focus Shifts

Soon after Neto’s second goal, the tie was effectively ended as a magnificent run from the forward laid on his teammate to tap into an empty net. Neto then completed his treble as the provider again delivered the decisive pass for the striker to coolly slot by a stranded goalkeeper.

By that stage, the effort 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 several key players with that goal in mind.

"I think we earned at least one goal but if we perform like this we will be in a very good situation in the league," he said. "Keep fighting, maybe in the upcoming matches this can be a positive example of how we should play."

Hull showed great effort to the end, and they nearly claimed a late goal when a substitute hit a post in stoppage time. But this was Chelsea’s evening, and another encouraging step forward for their new head coach at a place he is familiar with very well.

Cup History Are Promising

That made for an ultimately routine evening’s work, and the cup competition signs are positive from here for Chelsea. They have played Hull on three previous times in this tournament in the past ten years and every single time, they have gone on to reach the showpiece. There is still work in that respect, but this was another significant positive for the Chelsea boss.