The Portuguese Forward Fires Treble as The Blues Deliver Liam The Boss with Joyous Homecoming to Hull

Against a backdrop of freezing rain, flurries, 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 makings of a challenging evening’s work for Chelsea.

"We might have scored more but Hull are a strong team and it was a difficult tie; I am very pleased with the display," he said. "Hull City is very special to me so it was great to get a good reception from the fans of fans. The application of the players was excellent."

The Rosenior has this place close to his heart, given some of his family hail from Hull and his successful spell in charge of the Championship club. This positive association continued with a commanding display from his team, who in the end strolled into the fifth round of the FA Cup.

Clinical Finishing Secures Comprehensive Victory

Three days after letting slip a 2-0 advantage in the Premier League, there was a sniff of fragility about them going into this potentially tricky tie. The capacity Hull crowd clearly felt it too, but the London side navigated the challenge perfectly.

Rosenior made alterations, making multiple of them to his XI. The tie might and maybe ought to have been settled long before it actually was, with both Estêvão Willian and the forward guilty of missing glorious chances to put Chelsea in front in the opening period.

But, fortunately for the visitors, their Portuguese attacker was in a much more ruthless mood. He opened the deadlock with a marvellous distance effort, which acted as the spark for his team to take command of the match. By full time, they had 4 goals, with the forward scoring three of them for a superb three-goal haul.

The Forward's Response and Impact

Hull displayed plenty of spirit all game, but the better opportunities consistently fell Chelsea’s way. Estêvão should have broken the deadlock when he rounded goalkeeper Dillon Phillips before inexplicably firing over. Delap 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 celebrate thinking the ball had crossed the line. It hadn’t, and by the time he realised, Hull's backline had responded to clear the threat.

The player had his head in his hands after that moment, but he was immensely instrumental from that point onward, registering three assists. The first was for the opening goal as his pass set up Neto to score from outside the box. Shortly after the restart, it was two as Neto's corner went straight in under Phillips's legs.

Tie Put Beyond Doubt and Focus Turns

Soon after Neto’s second goal, the tie was put beyond doubt as a dazzling dribble from the forward laid on his teammate to slide into an unguarded goal. Neto then finished his treble as the provider once again played the crucial pass for the attacker to calmly slot by a helpless goalkeeper.

By that stage, the effort Hull had done in the opening thirty minutes had long since erased. Their focus must now switch back to achieving a promotion to the top division under their manager, who left out a number of first-choice players with that aim in mind.

"In my opinion we earned at least one goal but if we play like this we will be in a strong position in the Championship," he said. "Keep fighting, maybe in the next games this can be a positive example of how we should play."

Hull showed great endeavour to the final whistle, and they nearly got a late goal when Lewis Koumas struck a the upright in stoppage time. But this was Chelsea’s night, and another positive stride for their recently-appointed head coach at a place he knows very well.

Cup Omens Are Promising

That made for an in the end straightforward night's performance, and the cup competition omens are positive from here for the winners. They have faced Hull on three other times in this competition in the last decade and every single time, they have progressed to make the final. There is remains to be work in that respect, but this was another huge positive for the Chelsea boss.