Pedro Forward Scores Treble as The Blues Provide Manager The Boss with Joyous Homecoming to Hull

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

"We could have scored more but the opposition are a strong team and it was a tough fixture; I am delighted with the performance," he said. "Hull City means a lot to me so it was great to get a positive welcome from the fans of supporters. The attitude of the lads was superb."

The Rosenior has this city dear to him, given part of his relatives hail from Hull and his successful period in management of the Championship club. His positive connection continued with a commanding performance from his team, who ultimately sauntered into the next round of the famous old competition.

Deadly Edge Seals Comfortable Win

Seventy-two hours after surrendering a two-goal lead in the league, there was a sniff of fragility about them going into this potentially tricky tie. The capacity Hull support clearly felt it too, but the London side handled the challenge perfectly.

The manager rang the changes, making multiple of them to his XI. The tie might and maybe should have been decided earlier than it eventually was, with two Estêvão Willian and Liam Delap guilty of spurning glorious chances to put Chelsea in front in the first half.

But, fortunately for the visitors, Pedro Neto was in a far more ruthless mood. He broke the deadlock with a marvellous distance effort, which proved to be the catalyst for his team to take command of the match. By full time, they had 4 goals, with Neto scoring three of them for a brilliant hat-trick.

The Forward's Response and Impact

Hull displayed plenty of spirit throughout, but the better chances consistently came to the visitors. Estêvão ought to have broken the scoring when he went past keeper Dillon Phillips before unbelievably shooting over. The striker then had a similar horror moment in front of goal against his former club.

He blocked a Phillips's kick which came off the crossbar, and Delap began to run away believing the ball had crossed the line. It had not, and by the time he understood, Hull's defenders had responded to clear the threat.

Delap had his head in his hands after that miss, but he was immensely influential from that point onward, providing three key passes. The opening was for the first goal as his pass teed up Neto to finish from outside the box. Six minutes after the restart, it was 2-0 as Neto's set-piece went straight in through Phillips's legs.

Tie Sealed and Attention Shifts

Soon after Neto’s second goal, the match was put beyond doubt as a magnificent run from the forward teed up his teammate to slide into an empty net. The hat-trick hero then completed his treble as Delap once again played the crucial pass for the attacker to coolly convert past a helpless goalkeeper.

By that stage, the work Hull had put in in the first half-hour had long since forgotten. Their focus must now switch back to achieving a promotion to the Premier League under their manager, who left out several key players with that aim in mind.

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

Hull showed plenty of effort to the end, and they nearly got a late goal when Lewis Koumas struck a post in injury time. But this was the Blues' night, and another positive step forward for their recently-appointed head coach at a stadium he is familiar with very well.

Cup History Look Promising

That made for an ultimately routine night's work, and the FA Cup-shaped omens are good from here for the winners. They have faced Hull on three previous occasions in this competition 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 huge positive for Rosenior.