Pedro Forward Fires Treble as Chelsea Provide Liam Rosenior with Happy Return to Hull

Amid freezing rain, snow, and a swirling breeze off the banks of the Humber, alongside a determined Hull City side pushing hard for a top-flight place, this presented all the makings of a difficult night's work for Chelsea.

"We might have scored more but Hull are a good team and it was a tough fixture; I’m delighted with the performance," he said. "Hull City is very special to me so it was nice to get a positive reception from both sets of supporters. The attitude of the lads was superb."

The Chelsea manager holds this city dear to him, given some of his family hail from Hull and his successful period in management of the Tigers. His positive association was extended with a commanding display from his squad, who ultimately sauntered into the next round of the FA Cup.

Deadly Edge Seals Comprehensive Victory

Seventy-two hours removed from surrendering a 2-0 advantage in the Premier League, there was a sniff of fragility about Chelsea going into this intriguing cup clash. The packed Hull crowd evidently sensed it too, but the London side handled the task with ease.

The manager rang the changes, making seven of them to his XI. The match could and maybe should have been settled long before it actually was, with two the Brazilian winger and the forward at fault for spurning glorious opportunities to put their side in front in the opening period.

However, fortunately for the away team, Pedro Neto was in a far more ruthless frame of mind. He broke the scoring with a marvellous long-range strike, which acted as the spark for his team to assume command of proceedings. By the final whistle, they had four, with Neto netting a trio of them for a brilliant three-goal haul.

The Forward's Redemption and Impact

The home side displayed plenty of fight all game, but the better opportunities consistently came Chelsea’s way. The winger should have opened the scoring when he rounded goalkeeper the Hull stopper before unbelievably shooting over. The striker then had a similar horror incident in front of goal against his old team.

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

The player had his head in his hands after that moment, but he was immensely instrumental from there on out, registering 3 key passes. The first was for the first goal as his pass set up his teammate to finish from outside the box. Shortly after the restart, it was 2-0 as Neto's set-piece went straight in under the keeper's legs.

Contest Sealed and Focus Shifts

Soon after the second, the match was effectively ended as a dazzling dribble from the forward teed up Estêvão to tap into an empty net. Neto then finished his treble as Delap again played the decisive ball for the striker to coolly convert by a helpless goalkeeper.

At that point, the effort Hull had done in the first thirty minutes had been forgotten. Their priority must now switch back to securing a promotion to the top division under Sergej Jakirovic, who rested a number of first-choice 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 very good situation in the league," he said. "Keep fighting, maybe in the next matches this can be a positive example of how we must play."

There was great endeavour to the end, and they nearly got a consolation when a substitute struck a the upright in injury time. But this was the Blues' evening, and another positive step forward for their new manager at a place he knows intimately.

FA Cup Omens Look Promising

That made for an in the end straightforward night's work, and the cup competition omens are good from here for the winners. They have played Hull on three other occasions in this competition in the past ten years and every single time, they have gone on to reach the showpiece. Much still work in that respect, but this was another huge positive for the Chelsea boss.