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Against a backdrop of sleet, snow, and a biting wind off the banks of the Humber Estuary, alongside a determined Hull City side pushing hard for promotion, this presented all the makings of a difficult evening’s work for the visitors.

"We might have scored more but Hull are a good team and it was a tough tie; I’m very pleased with the performance," he said. "This club 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 excellent."

Liam Rosenior holds this city dear to him, considering part of his relatives hail from Hull and his successful spell in charge of the Tigers. This happy connection continued with a magnificent performance from his squad, who in the end sauntered into the fifth round of the famous old competition.

Clinical Edge Seals Comfortable Victory

Three days after surrendering a 2-0 advantage in the league, there was a hint of vulnerability about Chelsea going into this potentially tricky cup clash. The packed Hull crowd clearly sensed it too, but the London side navigated the task with ease.

Rosenior made alterations, making multiple of them to his XI. The tie could and perhaps should have been settled earlier than it actually was, with two Estêvão Willian and the forward at fault for missing glorious opportunities to put their side in front in the opening period.

But, luckily for the away team, Pedro Neto was in a much more ruthless mood. He broke the scoring with a spectacular distance strike, which acted as the spark for Chelsea to assume command of proceedings. By the final whistle, they had four, with Neto netting a trio of them for a superb hat-trick.

Delap's Response and Impact

The home side displayed great spirit all game, but the better opportunities always fell to the visitors. Estêvão ought to have opened the deadlock when he rounded goalkeeper the Hull stopper before unbelievably firing over. Delap then had a similar nightmare moment in front of goal against his former club.

He blocked a the goalkeeper's clearance which bounced off the crossbar, and he began to celebrate believing the ball had gone over the line. It hadn’t, and by the time he realised, Hull's defenders had reacted to clear the danger.

Delap had his head in his hands after that miss, but he was immensely influential from there on out, registering three key passes. The opening was for the opening goal as his through ball teed up Neto to finish from outside the box. Six minutes after the restart, it was two as Neto's corner went directly in under Phillips's legs.

Contest Sealed and Attention Turns

Soon after the second goal, the match was effectively ended as a magnificent run from the forward teed up his teammate to slide into an unguarded goal. Neto then finished his treble as the provider once again played the crucial ball for the striker to calmly slot by a stranded Phillips.

By that stage, the work Hull had done in the opening thirty minutes had long since erased. Their priority must now switch back to securing a return to the Premier League under their manager, who left out a number of first-choice individuals with that aim in mind.

"In my opinion we earned at least one goal but if we perform like this we will be in a very good situation in the league," the Hull manager commented. "Keep fighting, maybe in the next games this can be a good example of how we should play."

Hull showed great effort to the final whistle, and they almost got a consolation when a substitute hit a the upright in stoppage time. But this was the Blues' evening, and another encouraging stride for their new manager at a place he knows very well.

FA Cup Omens Look Good

The result resulted in an in the end straightforward evening’s performance, and the cup competition omens are good from here for Chelsea. They have played Hull on three previous occasions in this competition in the past ten years and on each occasion, they have progressed to make the final. There is remains to be done in that regard, but this was another huge positive for the Chelsea boss.