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Against a backdrop of freezing rain, flurries, and a swirling wind off the waters of the Humber, alongside a resolute Hull City side pushing hard for promotion, this presented all the makings of a difficult evening’s task for Chelsea.

"We might have scored more but Hull are a strong team and it was a tough tie; I’m delighted with the display," he said. "Hull City is very special to me so it was great to get a positive reception from the fans of supporters. The application of the lads was excellent."

The Chelsea manager holds this city dear to him, considering some of his family are from Hull and his enjoyable period in management of the Tigers. This positive association continued with a commanding performance from his team, who in the end sauntered into the next round of the FA Cup.

Deadly Edge Secures Comprehensive Win

Three days removed from letting slip a two-goal lead in the Premier League, there was a hint of fragility about them going into this potentially tricky tie. The packed home crowd clearly felt it too, but Rosenior's men handled the task with ease.

Rosenior made alterations, enacting seven of them to his XI. The match could and perhaps ought to have been settled earlier than it eventually was, with both the Brazilian winger and Liam Delap at fault for missing excellent opportunities to put their side in front in the opening period.

However, fortunately for the away team, Pedro Neto was in a far more clinical frame of mind. He broke the scoring with a marvellous distance effort, which proved to be the spark for Chelsea to assume control of the match. By full time, they had 4 goals, with Neto scoring a trio of them for a superb hat-trick.

The Forward's Response and Influence

The home side displayed great spirit all game, but the clearer opportunities always came to the visitors. Estêvão should have opened the scoring when he went past goalkeeper the Hull stopper before unbelievably firing over. Delap then had a comparable nightmare incident in front of goal against his old team.

He blocked a Phillips's kick which bounced back from the bar, and Delap started to run away believing the ball had gone over the line. It hadn’t, and by the time he understood, Hull's backline had reacted to avert the threat.

The player had his head in his hands after that miss, but he was immensely instrumental from there on out, registering three key passes. The first was for the opening goal as his through ball set up his teammate to finish from range. Shortly after the second half began, it was two as the forward's set-piece went straight in under the keeper's legs.

Contest Put Beyond Doubt and Focus Turns

Seven minutes after the second, the match was effectively ended as a dazzling run from the forward teed up Estêvão to tap into an empty net. The hat-trick hero then completed his treble as Delap once again delivered the crucial pass for the attacker to coolly slot past a helpless Phillips.

By that stage, the effort Hull had put in in the first half-hour had long since erased. Their priority must now switch back to securing a promotion to the top division under Sergej Jakirovic, who left out a number of key individuals with that goal in mind.

"In my opinion we deserved at least one goal but if we perform like this we will be in a strong situation in the league," he said. "Keep fighting, maybe in the next games this can be a good example of how we must play."

There was great effort to the final whistle, and they nearly claimed a consolation when Lewis Koumas struck a the upright in stoppage time. But this was Chelsea’s night, and another positive step forward for their new head coach at a place he knows intimately.

Cup Omens Look Good

The result made for an ultimately straightforward night's work, and the FA Cup-shaped omens are positive from here for the winners. They have played Hull on three other occasions in this tournament in the last decade and on each occasion, they have progressed to make the final. Much remains to be done in that regard, but this was another huge positive for the Chelsea boss.