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Amid sleet, snow, and a biting breeze off the waters of the Humber, alongside a determined home side pushing hard for a top-flight place, this had all the makings of a difficult evening’s task for the visitors.

"We might have scored more but the opposition are a strong team and it was a difficult tie; I am delighted with the performance," the manager stated. "This club means a lot to me so it was great to get a positive welcome from the fans of fans. The application of the players was excellent."

The Chelsea manager has this place dear to him, considering some of his family are from Hull and his successful period in charge of the Championship club. His positive connection was extended with a magnificent display from his squad, who ultimately sauntered into the fifth round of the famous old competition.

Deadly Edge Secures Comfortable Win

Seventy-two hours after letting slip a 2-0 advantage in the league, there was a hint of fragility about Chelsea going into this intriguing tie. The capacity home crowd clearly sensed it too, but the London side handled the task perfectly.

Rosenior made alterations, making multiple of them to his XI. The match could and perhaps should have been settled earlier than it eventually was, with two Estêvão Willian and Liam Delap guilty of missing glorious opportunities to put Chelsea in front in the opening period.

But, luckily for the away team, Pedro Neto was in a far more ruthless mood. He opened the deadlock with a spectacular distance strike, which acted as the catalyst for his team to assume control of proceedings. By full time, they had four, with the forward netting a trio of them for a superb hat-trick.

The Forward's Redemption and Influence

The home side displayed great spirit throughout, but the clearer opportunities consistently came to the visitors. Estêvão ought to have broken the deadlock when he went past keeper the Hull stopper before inexplicably firing over. The striker then had a similar nightmare moment in front of goal against his old team.

He deflected a Phillips's clearance which came back from the bar, and Delap started to celebrate thinking the ball had crossed the line. It had not, and by the time he understood, Hull's backline had reacted to avert the threat.

Delap had his head in his hands after that moment, but he was hugely instrumental from that point onward, providing three key passes. The first was for the first goal as his pass set up Neto to score from range. Six minutes after the second half began, it was two as the forward's set-piece went straight in under the keeper's legs.

Tie Sealed and Focus Turns

Seven minutes after Neto’s second goal, the match was effectively ended as a dazzling dribble from Delap teed up Estêvão to slide into an unguarded goal. Neto then completed his hat-trick as the provider once again delivered the decisive ball for the attacker to calmly convert past a helpless goalkeeper.

At that point, the work Hull had done in the opening thirty minutes had long since forgotten. Their priority must now switch back to achieving a return to the Premier League under their manager, who rested several key individuals with that aim in mind.

"I think we deserved at least one goal but if we play like this we will be in a strong position in the league," he said. "Never surrender, maybe in the next games this can be a good lesson of how we must play."

There was plenty of effort to the end, and they almost claimed a late goal when a substitute hit a the upright in stoppage time. But this was Chelsea’s evening, and another positive stride for their recently-appointed head coach at a stadium he is familiar with very well.

Cup Omens Look Promising

The result resulted in an in the end routine night's work, and the cup competition omens are good from here for Chelsea. They have played Hull on three previous times in this tournament in the past ten years and every single time, they have progressed to make the final. There is remains to be done in that regard, but this was another significant positive for Rosenior.