The Portuguese Forward Scores Treble as Chelsea Deliver Liam The Boss with Joyous Homecoming to Hull

Against a backdrop of sleet, snow, and a biting wind off the banks of the Humber Estuary, alongside a resolute Hull City side fighting for a top-flight place, this had all the ingredients of a difficult night's task for the visitors.

"We might have added to our tally but Hull are a good team and it was a difficult fixture; I am delighted with the display," he said. "Hull City is very special to me so it was great to get a good reception from both sets of supporters. The attitude of the lads was excellent."

The Rosenior holds this place dear to him, considering some of his relatives are from Hull and his enjoyable period in charge of the Tigers. His happy connection continued with a magnificent display from his squad, who ultimately strolled into the next round of the FA Cup.

Deadly Edge Secures Comprehensive Win

Seventy-two hours removed from letting slip a two-goal lead in the Premier League, there was a sniff of vulnerability about Chelsea going into this intriguing cup clash. The packed Hull crowd evidently felt it too, but Rosenior's men navigated the challenge with ease.

The manager made alterations, making multiple of them to his starting lineup. The tie might and maybe ought to have been decided long before it actually was, with two the Brazilian winger and Liam Delap guilty of missing excellent opportunities to put Chelsea in front in the opening period.

But, luckily for the visitors, their Portuguese attacker was in a far more clinical mood. He broke the deadlock with a spectacular long-range effort, which acted as the catalyst for his team to assume command of the match. By full time, they had four, with the forward scoring a trio of them for a brilliant three-goal haul.

Delap's Redemption and Impact

Hull showed plenty of spirit throughout, but the better chances consistently fell to the visitors. The winger ought to have opened the scoring when he went past goalkeeper the Hull stopper before unbelievably shooting over. Delap then had a comparable horror moment in front of goal against his old team.

He deflected a Phillips's kick which came off the crossbar, and he started to run away thinking the ball had crossed the line. It had not, and by the time he realised, Hull's backline had reacted to clear the danger.

Delap had his head in his hands after that moment, but he was hugely instrumental from that point onward, providing 3 assists. The opening was for the first goal as his through ball teed up his teammate to finish from outside the box. Six minutes after the restart, it was two as Neto's set-piece went directly in under Phillips's legs.

Contest Sealed and Focus Shifts

Seven minutes after the second, the tie was put beyond doubt as a magnificent run from Delap laid on Estêvão to slide into an unguarded goal. The hat-trick hero then completed his treble as Delap again delivered the crucial pass for the striker to coolly slot by a stranded Phillips.

By that stage, the work Hull had done in the opening thirty minutes had been forgotten. Their focus must now return to achieving a promotion to the Premier League under their manager, who left out a number of first-choice players with that aim in mind.

"In my opinion we deserved at least one goal but if we play like this we will be in a very good situation in the league," the Hull manager commented. "Keep fighting, 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 almost claimed a late goal when Lewis Koumas hit a post in injury time. But this was the Blues' evening, and another encouraging step forward for their recently-appointed manager at a stadium he is familiar with intimately.

FA Cup Omens Are Promising

The result made for an in the end routine evening’s work, and the FA Cup-shaped omens are positive from here for Chelsea. They have faced Hull on three other occasions in this tournament in the past ten years and every single time, they have gone on to reach the showpiece. Much remains to be done in that regard, but this was another huge tick for Rosenior.