The Portuguese Forward Fires Hat-Trick as The Blues Provide Manager The Boss with Joyous Return to Hull

Against a backdrop of sleet, flurries, and a biting breeze off the banks of the Humber Estuary, alongside a determined home side pushing hard for a top-flight place, this had all the ingredients of a challenging night's task for the visitors.

"We could have added to our tally but the opposition are a good team and it was a difficult tie; I’m delighted with the performance," the manager stated. "Hull City means a lot to me so it was great to get a good welcome from both sets of fans. The attitude of the players was superb."

The Chelsea manager has this place dear to him, considering part of his family hail from Hull and his successful period in charge of the Championship club. This positive association continued with a magnificent display from his team, who in the end sauntered into the next round of the FA Cup.

Clinical Finishing Secures Comfortable Victory

Seventy-two hours after surrendering a two-goal advantage in the league, there was a sniff of fragility about Chelsea going into this intriguing cup clash. The packed Hull crowd clearly felt it too, but Rosenior's men handled the challenge with ease.

The manager rang the changes, enacting seven of them to his XI. The match might and perhaps ought to have been decided long before it actually was, with two the Brazilian winger and Liam Delap at fault for missing excellent chances to put Chelsea ahead in the opening period.

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 strike, which proved to be the catalyst for Chelsea to take control of the match. By the final whistle, they had 4 goals, with the forward netting a trio of them for a brilliant three-goal haul.

Delap's Redemption and Influence

Hull displayed great spirit all game, but the clearer chances always fell to the visitors. The winger ought to have broken the scoring when he rounded goalkeeper the Hull stopper before inexplicably firing over. Delap then had a comparable horror moment in front of goal against his old team.

He blocked a Phillips's clearance which bounced off the bar, and he began to run away thinking the ball had gone over the line. It hadn’t, and by the time he realised, Hull's backline had reacted to avert the danger.

The player had his head in his hands after that moment, but he was hugely influential from that point onward, registering three key passes. The first was for the opening goal as his pass set up Neto to score from outside the box. Six minutes after the second half began, it was 2-0 as the forward's set-piece went straight in through Phillips's legs.

Contest Put Beyond Doubt and Focus Turns

Seven minutes after the second, the match was effectively ended as a magnificent run from Delap laid on his teammate to slide into an unguarded goal. The hat-trick hero then finished his hat-trick as the provider again delivered the decisive ball for the attacker to calmly slot past a stranded goalkeeper.

At that point, the work Hull had put in in the opening thirty minutes had been erased. Their focus must now return 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.

"I think we deserved at least one goal but if we play like this we will be in a very good situation in the Championship," he said. "Keep fighting, maybe in the upcoming matches this can be a positive lesson of how we must play."

Hull showed great endeavour to the end, and they almost claimed a consolation when Lewis Koumas struck a the upright in stoppage time. But this was the Blues' night, and another positive step forward for their recently-appointed manager at a stadium he is familiar with intimately.

Cup History Are Promising

That made for an ultimately routine evening’s performance, and the FA Cup-shaped omens are positive from here for the winners. They have faced Hull on three other times in this tournament in the last decade and every single time, they have gone on to reach the showpiece. Much remains to be done in that respect, but this was another huge positive for the Chelsea boss.