Pedro Forward Fires Hat-Trick as The Blues Deliver Liam Rosenior with Joyous Return to Hull

Against a backdrop of sleet, snow, and a swirling breeze from the banks of the Humber, combined with a resolute Hull City side pushing hard for a top-flight place, this presented all the makings of a difficult evening’s work for the visitors.

"We might have added to our tally but Hull are a good team and it was a tough tie; I’m delighted with the performance," the manager stated. "This club means a lot to me so it was great to get a positive welcome from both sets of fans. The application of the lads was superb."

The Chelsea manager holds this place close to his heart, considering part of his relatives hail from Hull and his successful period in charge of the Tigers. His happy association was extended with a commanding display from his squad, who in the end sauntered into the next round of the famous old competition.

Clinical Edge Secures Comfortable Win

Seventy-two hours after surrendering a 2-0 advantage in the league, there was a hint of fragility about Chelsea going into this intriguing tie. The packed Hull support evidently sensed it too, but the London side navigated the task with ease.

Rosenior made alterations, making seven of them to his XI. The match could and maybe should have been settled long before it actually was, with both the Brazilian winger and Liam Delap at fault for spurning excellent opportunities to put Chelsea ahead in the first half.

However, fortunately for the away team, their Portuguese attacker was in a much more ruthless frame of mind. He opened the scoring with a marvellous long-range effort, which acted as the spark for Chelsea to take command of proceedings. By full time, they had 4 goals, with the forward scoring a trio of them for a brilliant three-goal haul.

The Forward's Response and Impact

Hull displayed great spirit throughout, but the clearer opportunities always came Chelsea’s way. Estêvão should have broken the scoring when he went past keeper Dillon Phillips before inexplicably shooting over. The striker then had a comparable nightmare incident in front of goal against his old team.

He deflected a Phillips's clearance which bounced back from the crossbar, and he started to run away thinking the ball had crossed the line. It had not, and by the time he understood, Hull's defenders 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, registering three assists. The first was for the first goal as his through ball teed 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 under Phillips's legs.

Contest Sealed and Attention Turns

Seven minutes after the second goal, the match was effectively ended as a dazzling run from the forward laid on his teammate to slide into an empty net. Neto then completed his treble as the provider again played the decisive pass for the attacker to coolly slot past a helpless Phillips.

At that point, the effort Hull had done in the first half-hour had long since forgotten. Their priority must now switch back to achieving a return to the top division under their manager, who left out several key individuals with that aim in mind.

"I think we deserved at least one goal but if we play like this we will be in a strong situation in the league," he said. "Never surrender, maybe in the next games this can be a positive example of how we must play."

There was great endeavour to the final whistle, and they nearly got a consolation when a substitute hit a the upright in injury time. But this was Chelsea’s night, and another positive step forward for their recently-appointed head coach at a place he is familiar with intimately.

FA Cup History Are Good

The result resulted in an in the end straightforward night's performance, and the cup competition omens are good from here for the winners. They have played Hull on three previous times in this tournament in the past ten years and on each occasion, they have progressed to reach the showpiece. There is remains to be done in that respect, but this was another huge positive for Rosenior.