Pedro Forward Scores Hat-Trick as Chelsea Deliver Manager The Boss with Happy Return to Hull

Against a backdrop of freezing rain, flurries, and a biting wind off the waters of the Humber, combined with a resolute Hull City side pushing hard for promotion, this presented all the ingredients of a challenging night's work for Chelsea.

"We might have added to our tally but the opposition are a good team and it was a tough fixture; I’m delighted with the performance," he said. "This club means a lot to me so it was nice to get a positive welcome from both sets of fans. The application of the lads was excellent."

The Chelsea manager has this place dear to him, considering some of his family are from Hull and his successful period in management of the Tigers. His happy association was extended with a magnificent performance from his team, who in the end strolled into the next round of the FA Cup.

Clinical Edge Seals Comprehensive Win

Seventy-two hours after surrendering a two-goal advantage in the Premier League, there was a hint of fragility about Chelsea going into this potentially tricky tie. The packed Hull support clearly felt it too, but the London side navigated the challenge perfectly.

Rosenior rang the changes, making seven of them to his XI. The match might and maybe should have been decided earlier than it eventually was, with both Estêvão Willian and the forward guilty of missing excellent opportunities to put their side ahead in the first half.

However, fortunately for the visitors, Pedro Neto was in a much more ruthless frame of mind. He opened the deadlock with a marvellous distance strike, which acted as the catalyst for his team to assume command of proceedings. By the final whistle, they had four, with Neto netting three of them for a brilliant three-goal haul.

The Forward's Response and Influence

The home side showed plenty of fight throughout, but the clearer opportunities consistently fell to the visitors. The winger ought to have broken the deadlock when he went past goalkeeper Dillon Phillips before inexplicably shooting over. Delap then had a comparable horror moment in front of goal against his old team.

He blocked a Phillips's kick which bounced back from the crossbar, and he began to run away believing the ball had gone over the line. It had not, and by the time he understood, Hull's defenders had responded to avert the threat.

Delap had his head in his hands after that miss, but he was hugely influential from that point onward, providing three assists. The first was for the first goal as his through ball set up Neto to score from outside the box. Shortly after the second half began, it was two as the forward's set-piece went directly in under Phillips's legs.

Tie Sealed and Attention Turns

Soon after Neto’s second goal, the tie was effectively ended as a dazzling dribble from Delap laid on his teammate to tap into an unguarded goal. Neto then finished his treble as the provider once again delivered the decisive pass for the attacker to coolly convert by a helpless goalkeeper.

At that point, the work Hull had put in in the first half-hour had been erased. Their priority must now return to achieving a return to the top division under their manager, who left out several first-choice individuals 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. "Never surrender, maybe in the next games this can be a positive lesson of how we should play."

Hull showed great effort to the end, and they nearly claimed a late goal when a substitute hit a post in injury time. But this was the Blues' night, and another encouraging stride for their recently-appointed manager at a place he knows very well.

Cup History Are Promising

That made for an ultimately straightforward night's work, and the FA Cup-shaped signs are positive from here for the winners. They have played Hull on three previous occasions in this competition in the last decade and on each occasion, they have progressed to make the showpiece. Much remains to be done in that regard, but this was another significant tick for the Chelsea boss.