The Portuguese Forward Fires Hat-Trick as The Blues Deliver Manager Rosenior with Happy Return to Hull City

Against a backdrop of sleet, snow, and a biting breeze from the banks of the Humber, alongside a determined home side fighting for a top-flight place, this presented all the ingredients of a difficult night's work for the visitors.

"We could have added to our tally but the opposition are a good team and it was a tough tie; I’m very pleased with the display," he said. "Hull City is very special to me so it was nice to get a good welcome from the fans of supporters. The attitude of the players was superb."

The Rosenior has this city dear to him, considering some of his relatives are from Hull and his enjoyable spell in management of the Championship club. This happy connection continued with a commanding display from his team, who ultimately strolled into the next round of the FA Cup.

Deadly Finishing Secures Comprehensive Victory

Three days removed from surrendering a 2-0 lead in the Premier League, there was a sniff of vulnerability about them going into this intriguing tie. The packed home crowd evidently felt it too, but the London side handled the task with ease.

Rosenior made alterations, making multiple of them to his starting lineup. The tie could and maybe ought to have been decided long before it actually was, with both Estêvão Willian and Liam Delap guilty of spurning excellent opportunities to put Chelsea in front in the opening period.

However, luckily for the away team, their Portuguese attacker was in a much more ruthless frame of mind. He opened the deadlock with a marvellous distance strike, which proved to be the catalyst for his team to assume control of proceedings. By the final whistle, they had 4 goals, with Neto netting a trio of them for a superb three-goal haul.

The Forward's Response and Impact

The home side displayed plenty of spirit throughout, but the better chances consistently fell to the visitors. The winger should have opened the deadlock when he rounded goalkeeper the Hull stopper before inexplicably shooting over. The striker then had a comparable horror incident in front of goal against his former club.

He blocked a the goalkeeper's kick which came off the bar, and he started to run away thinking the ball had crossed the line. It hadn’t, and by the time he understood, Hull's defenders had responded to clear the danger.

The player had his head in his hands after that moment, but he was immensely influential from there on out, registering 3 key passes. The first was for the opening goal as his through ball set up Neto to finish from outside the box. Six minutes after the second half began, it was two as Neto's corner went straight in through the keeper's legs.

Tie Put Beyond Doubt and Attention Shifts

Soon after the second goal, the tie was put beyond doubt as a dazzling run from the forward teed up his teammate to slide into an empty net. The hat-trick hero then finished his hat-trick as Delap again played the crucial ball for the striker to coolly slot by a stranded Phillips.

At that point, the effort Hull had put in in the opening thirty minutes had long since forgotten. Their focus must now switch back to achieving a return to the top division under Sergej Jakirovic, who left out several first-choice individuals with that aim in mind.

"I think 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 games this can be a positive lesson of how we must play."

There was great effort to the final whistle, and they almost got a late goal when a substitute hit a post in stoppage time. But this was Chelsea’s evening, and another positive step forward for their new manager at a stadium he is familiar with very well.

Cup Omens Are Good

The result made for an ultimately routine night's performance, 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 on each occasion, they have progressed to make the showpiece. Much still work in that respect, but this was another significant positive for Rosenior.