Hull 0-4 Chelsea: Pedro Neto hat-trick sends Blues into FA Cup fifth round | OneFootball

Blues safely through to Monday’s draw after win over Championship high-flyers

Pedro Neto scored a hat-trick as Chelsea boss Liam Rosenior's first return to former club Hull ended in a comfortable 4-0 victory in the fourth round of the FA Cup.

Portugal winger Neto completed his hat-trick with 19 minutes remaining, while Championship promotion-chasers Hull never threatened to cause an upset.

Rosenior's reign as Chelsea boss began in January with a thumping 5-1 win at Charlton in the third round and on an emotional return to the MKM Stadium - where he was a former player and manager - the Londoners cruised into the last 16.

Aside from defeats in both legs of Chelsea's League Cup semi-final against Arsenal, Rosenior has now won eight and drawn one of his nine other matches in charge in all competitions.

He made seven changes after his side missed the chance to climb into the Premier League's top four in midweek by being held 2-2 at home by Leeds.

Hull are fourth in the second tier, five points off the top two and with one eye on his side's promotion push, boss Sergej Jakirovic made six changes of his own.

The Tigers were indebted to one of them, goalkeeper Dillon Phillips, in the 10th minute as the visitors spurned early chances.

Alejandro Garnacho raced clear on to Moises Caicedo's through-ball, but Phillips parried the striker's low shot and John Egan then thwarted Neto from the rebound.

Neto had already fired off target from inside the penalty area and Chelsea let their hosts off the hook again in the 16th minute when Estevao rounded Phillips, only to skew his effort in front of an open goal over the crossbar.

Former Hull loanee Liam Delap spurned another chance for Chelsea. After he charged down Phillips' clearance, the ball bounced down off the crossbar and the striker inexplicably hesitated as he attempted to turn home the rebound and his effort was blocked.

Hull went close through Ryan Giles' 20-yard free-kick, which forced Robert Sanchez into a sprawling save and that turned out to be their best chance of the match.

With five minutes of the first half remaining, it appeared the Tigers would go into break level, but Neto made space on the edge of the area after being teed up by Delap and lashed a superb shot into the bottom corner.

Phillips saved brilliantly from Andrey Santos' header early in the second period, but then let Neto's resulting corner bounce through his legs and directly into the net.

Estevao added Chelsea's third, eight minutes later - drilling home a low shot following another corner - and with 19 minutes remaining, Neto turned home his third goal from inside the area to celebrate his 10th of the season in all competitions, with Delap once again the provider.

Chelsea teenager Jesse Derry, son of former Crystal Palace and Leeds midfielder Shaun Derry, was handed his debut in the closing stages before Hull went close to a late consolation when Lewis Koumas' low shot hit a post.