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Amid freezing rain, flurries, and a swirling breeze from the waters of the Humber Estuary, alongside a resolute Hull City side pushing hard for a top-flight place, this had all the ingredients of a challenging evening’s work for the visitors.

"We might have added to our tally but the opposition are a strong team and it was a tough fixture; I’m very pleased with the display," he said. "Hull City means a lot to me so it was nice to get a good welcome from both sets of supporters. The application of the players was superb."

Liam Chelsea manager holds this place close to his heart, given part of his relatives are from Hull and his enjoyable spell in charge of the Tigers. This happy association continued with a commanding display from his squad, who ultimately strolled into the next round of the famous old competition.

Deadly Finishing Secures Comfortable Win

Seventy-two hours after surrendering a 2-0 advantage in the Premier League, there was a hint of fragility about Chelsea going into this potentially tricky cup clash. The capacity Hull support evidently sensed it too, but Rosenior's men handled the task with ease.

Rosenior made alterations, enacting multiple of them to his XI. The match could and maybe ought to have been decided earlier than it eventually was, with both Estêvão Willian and Liam Delap at fault for missing excellent chances to put Chelsea ahead in the first half.

But, luckily for the away team, Pedro Neto was in a far more ruthless frame of mind. He opened the deadlock with a spectacular distance strike, which proved to be the spark for his team to assume control of the match. By the final whistle, they had four, with the forward scoring a trio of them for a brilliant hat-trick.

The Forward's Response and Impact

The home side showed plenty of spirit all game, but the better chances always fell to the visitors. The winger should have opened the deadlock when he rounded keeper the Hull stopper before unbelievably shooting over. The striker then had a similar nightmare incident in front of goal against his old team.

He deflected a Phillips's kick which bounced back from the crossbar, and Delap began to run away thinking the ball had crossed the line. It had not, and by the time he understood, Hull's backline had reacted to clear the danger.

The player had his head in his hands after that moment, but he was hugely influential from that point onward, providing three key passes. The opening was for the first goal as his through ball set up Neto to finish from outside the box. Six minutes after the restart, it was 2-0 as the forward's set-piece went straight in under Phillips's legs.

Tie Sealed and Focus Shifts

Seven minutes after the second, the match was effectively ended as a dazzling run from the forward teed up Estêvão to slide into an empty net. The hat-trick hero then finished his treble as Delap once again played the decisive pass for the striker to calmly slot past a helpless Phillips.

At that point, the effort Hull had put in in the first thirty minutes had been erased. Their priority must now switch back to achieving a promotion to the top division 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 league," he said. "Keep fighting, maybe in the upcoming matches this can be a positive example of how we must play."

There was great endeavour to the end, and they almost got a consolation when Lewis Koumas struck a post in injury time. But this was the Blues' night, and another encouraging stride for their recently-appointed manager at a place he knows intimately.

FA Cup History Are Promising

That made for an in the end straightforward evening’s performance, and the FA Cup-shaped signs are good from here for the winners. They have faced Hull on three previous occasions in this competition in the past ten years and every single time, they have gone on to make the final. There is remains to be work in that regard, but this was another huge positive for Rosenior.