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Against a backdrop of sleet, snow, and a swirling wind from the waters of the Humber, alongside a resolute Hull City side fighting for a top-flight place, this presented all the ingredients of a difficult night's task for Chelsea.

"We could have scored more but Hull are a strong team and it was a tough fixture; I am delighted with the performance," he said. "Hull City is very special to me so it was great to get a good reception from the fans of supporters. The application of the lads was superb."

The Chelsea manager holds this city dear to him, given part of his relatives are from Hull and his enjoyable spell in management of the Tigers. His happy association continued with a commanding display from his squad, who ultimately sauntered into the fifth round of the famous old competition.

Deadly Finishing Secures Comfortable Victory

Three days after letting slip a two-goal lead in the Premier League, there was a hint of vulnerability about Chelsea going into this potentially tricky tie. The capacity home crowd clearly sensed it too, but Rosenior's men handled the challenge perfectly.

Rosenior made alterations, making multiple of them to his starting lineup. The match could and maybe ought to have been settled long before it eventually was, with both the Brazilian winger and the forward guilty of spurning glorious chances to put their side ahead in the opening period.

But, luckily for the away team, Pedro Neto was in a far more ruthless frame of mind. He broke the deadlock with a spectacular long-range strike, which acted as the catalyst for his team to assume control of the match. By full time, they had 4 goals, with the forward scoring a trio of them for a brilliant three-goal haul.

The Forward's Response and Influence

The home side displayed great spirit all game, but the better opportunities consistently fell Chelsea’s way. Estêvão ought to have broken the deadlock when he went past keeper the Hull stopper before inexplicably shooting over. Delap then had a comparable nightmare incident in front of goal against his old team.

He deflected a the goalkeeper's clearance which bounced off the bar, and Delap began to run away believing the ball had crossed the line. It hadn’t, and by the time he realised, Hull's defenders had responded to avert the threat.

Delap had his head in his hands after that miss, but he was hugely influential from there on out, registering 3 key passes. The opening was for the first goal as his pass set up Neto to finish from range. Six minutes after the restart, it was two as the forward's corner went straight in under the keeper's legs.

Tie Sealed and Focus Shifts

Seven minutes after Neto’s second, the tie was effectively ended as a dazzling run from the forward teed up Estêvão to tap into an unguarded goal. Neto then completed his hat-trick as Delap again delivered the crucial pass for the attacker to calmly convert past a stranded goalkeeper.

By that stage, the effort Hull had done in the opening half-hour had long since forgotten. Their focus must now switch back to achieving a return to the Premier League under their manager, who left out a number of first-choice players with that goal in mind.

"I think we deserved at least one goal but if we play like this we will be in a strong situation in the league," he said. "Keep fighting, maybe in the upcoming games this can be a good lesson of how we should play."

Hull showed great endeavour to the end, and they nearly claimed a consolation when a substitute hit a the upright in injury time. But this was the Blues' night, and another encouraging step forward for their recently-appointed manager at a place he is familiar with very well.

FA Cup History Are Promising

The result resulted in an ultimately routine evening’s performance, and the cup competition signs are positive from here for the winners. They have faced Hull on three other occasions in this tournament in the past ten years and every single time, they have gone on to reach the showpiece. Much still done in that respect, but this was another significant tick for Rosenior.