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Against a backdrop of sleet, snow, and a swirling wind off the waters of the Humber Estuary, combined with a determined home side pushing hard for a top-flight place, this presented all the makings of a challenging evening’s task for Chelsea.

"We could have added to our tally but the opposition are a good team and it was a difficult tie; I am delighted with the performance," he said. "This club means a lot to me so it was great to get a good welcome from both sets of fans. The application of the players was superb."

The Rosenior has this place dear to him, considering some of his family hail from Hull and his successful spell in management of the Tigers. His happy connection was extended with a magnificent display from his team, who ultimately strolled into the next round of the famous old competition.

Deadly Finishing Secures Comfortable Win

Three days removed from surrendering a 2-0 advantage in the league, there was a sniff of vulnerability about them going into this intriguing cup clash. The capacity home crowd evidently felt it too, but the London side navigated the challenge perfectly.

The manager made alterations, making seven of them to his starting lineup. The tie could and maybe should have been settled earlier than it eventually was, with both the Brazilian winger and Liam Delap guilty of spurning excellent opportunities to put their side in front in the opening period.

But, fortunately for the away team, Pedro Neto was in a much more clinical frame of mind. He opened the scoring with a spectacular distance effort, which proved to be the spark for Chelsea to take command of proceedings. By full time, they had four, with Neto netting a trio of them for a superb three-goal haul.

Delap's Response and Influence

The home side showed plenty of spirit throughout, but the better opportunities consistently came to the visitors. Estêvão should have opened the deadlock when he went past keeper the Hull stopper before inexplicably firing over. Delap then had a similar horror incident in front of goal against his old team.

He blocked a the goalkeeper's clearance which came back from the crossbar, and he started to celebrate 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 miss, but he was hugely instrumental from there on out, providing three key passes. The first was for the opening goal as his pass teed up his teammate to finish from outside the box. Shortly after the second half began, it was 2-0 as Neto's set-piece went directly in through the keeper's legs.

Contest Sealed and Attention Shifts

Seven minutes after Neto’s second, the tie was put beyond doubt as a dazzling run from the forward teed up Estêvão to slide into an unguarded goal. The hat-trick hero then completed his hat-trick as the provider once again played the crucial ball for the attacker to coolly convert by a stranded Phillips.

By that stage, the effort Hull had put in in the first thirty minutes had been forgotten. Their priority must now return to securing a return to the Premier League under their manager, who rested several first-choice players with that aim in mind.

"I think we earned at least one goal but if we perform like this we will be in a strong situation in the Championship," the Hull manager commented. "Never surrender, maybe in the next matches this can be a positive lesson of how we should play."

Hull showed plenty of endeavour to the end, and they almost claimed a consolation when Lewis Koumas struck a post in stoppage time. But this was the Blues' evening, and another positive stride for their new manager at a stadium he knows intimately.

FA Cup Omens Look Good

The result made for an in the end routine evening’s performance, and the cup competition omens are good from here for Chelsea. They have faced Hull on three other times in this competition in the last decade and on each occasion, they have progressed to make the final. There is still work in that respect, but this was another significant tick for Rosenior.