🔗 Share this article The Portuguese Neto Fires Hat-Trick as Chelsea Provide Manager The Boss with Happy Return to Hull City Against a backdrop of sleet, snow, and a swirling wind off the waters of the Humber Estuary, alongside a determined home side fighting for a top-flight place, this had all the ingredients of a challenging evening’s task for Chelsea. "We might have scored more but Hull are a good team and it was a difficult tie; I am very pleased with the display," he said. "This club means a lot to me so it was great to get a good reception from both sets of supporters. The application of the lads was excellent." Liam Chelsea manager holds this city close to his heart, given part of his relatives are from Hull and his successful period in management of the Championship club. His positive connection was extended with a magnificent display from his squad, who in the end strolled into the fifth round of the famous old competition. Clinical Finishing Seals Comprehensive Win Seventy-two hours after surrendering a 2-0 lead in the Premier League, there was a sniff of vulnerability about them going into this potentially tricky tie. The packed home support evidently felt it too, but Rosenior's men handled the task perfectly. The manager rang the changes, making seven of them to his starting lineup. The tie might and maybe should have been settled long before it eventually was, with two Estêvão Willian and Liam Delap at fault for missing excellent opportunities to put Chelsea in front in the first half. But, fortunately for the visitors, their Portuguese attacker was in a much more clinical frame of mind. He broke the scoring with a marvellous long-range effort, which proved to be the spark for his team to take control of the match. By the final whistle, they had four, with the forward netting a trio of them for a superb three-goal haul. The Forward's Response and Influence The home side showed plenty of spirit throughout, but the clearer opportunities always fell to the visitors. The winger should have opened the scoring when he rounded keeper Dillon Phillips before inexplicably shooting over. Delap then had a comparable nightmare moment in front of goal against his old team. He deflected a the goalkeeper's kick which came back from the bar, and Delap started to celebrate thinking the ball had gone over the line. It had not, and by the time he realised, Hull's backline had reacted to avert the threat. Delap had his head in his hands after that moment, but he was immensely instrumental from there on out, providing 3 assists. The opening was for the first goal as his through ball teed up his teammate to score from range. Six minutes after the restart, it was 2-0 as the forward's set-piece went directly in through Phillips's legs. Tie Put Beyond Doubt and Focus Shifts Seven minutes after the second, 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 hat-trick as the provider once again delivered the decisive ball for the striker to calmly slot past a helpless goalkeeper. By that stage, the effort Hull had done in the first thirty minutes had long since erased. Their focus must now switch back to securing a return to the Premier League under their manager, who left out several first-choice players with that goal in mind. "In my opinion we earned at least one goal but if we perform like this we will be in a strong situation in the league," the Hull manager commented. "Never surrender, maybe in the next matches this can be a positive example of how we should play." Hull showed great effort to the end, and they almost got a consolation when Lewis Koumas struck a the upright in injury time. But this was the Blues' night, and another positive step forward for their new head coach at a place he is familiar with very well. FA Cup Omens Are Promising The result resulted in an in the end routine night's performance, and the cup competition signs are positive from here for the winners. They have played Hull on three other times in this tournament in the past ten years and every single time, they have gone on to reach the final. Much still done in that respect, but this was another huge positive for Rosenior.