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Against a backdrop of sleet, flurries, and a swirling wind off the banks of the Humber Estuary, alongside a determined Hull City side fighting for promotion, this had all the ingredients of a difficult night's work for Chelsea.

"We might have scored more but Hull are a good team and it was a tough fixture; I am very pleased with the performance," the manager stated. "Hull City means a lot to me so it was great to get a good reception from both sets of fans. The application of the players was excellent."

The Rosenior holds this place dear to him, given part of his relatives are from Hull and his enjoyable period in charge of the Tigers. This happy association was extended with a magnificent display from his team, who ultimately strolled into the next round of the FA Cup.

Deadly Edge Seals Comfortable Victory

Three days removed from letting slip a two-goal advantage in the league, there was a hint of fragility about them going into this potentially tricky tie. The capacity Hull crowd clearly felt it too, but Rosenior's men handled the challenge with ease.

Rosenior rang the changes, making multiple of them to his starting lineup. The tie might and perhaps should have been decided long before it eventually was, with both the Brazilian winger and Liam Delap guilty of spurning excellent opportunities to put their side in front in the first half.

However, fortunately for the visitors, their Portuguese attacker was in a much more ruthless frame of mind. He opened the deadlock with a spectacular long-range strike, which proved to be the catalyst for his team to take control of proceedings. By full time, they had four, with the forward scoring three of them for a superb three-goal haul.

The Forward's Response and Influence

The home side showed great spirit throughout, but the better opportunities always came Chelsea’s way. The winger should have broken the scoring when he went past goalkeeper Dillon Phillips before inexplicably firing over. Delap then had a similar horror incident in front of goal against his old team.

He deflected a Phillips's kick which came back from the bar, and he started to run away believing the ball had gone over the line. It hadn’t, and by the time he realised, Hull's backline had reacted to avert the threat.

The player had his head in his hands after that moment, but he was immensely instrumental from there on out, registering 3 key passes. The first was for the first goal as his through ball teed up Neto to score from range. Six minutes after the restart, it was two as Neto's corner went straight in under Phillips's legs.

Contest Sealed and Focus Turns

Soon after the second, the match was put beyond doubt as a magnificent run from Delap teed up Estêvão to tap into an empty net. Neto then completed his hat-trick as the provider once again delivered the crucial ball for the striker to calmly convert by a helpless goalkeeper.

By that stage, the work Hull had put in in the opening thirty minutes had been forgotten. Their priority must now switch back to achieving a promotion to the top division under Sergej Jakirovic, who rested several first-choice individuals with that goal in mind.

"I think we deserved at least one goal but if we play like this we will be in a very good situation in the Championship," he said. "Never surrender, maybe in the upcoming matches this can be a positive lesson of how we must play."

There was great endeavour to the end, and they nearly claimed a late goal when Lewis Koumas struck a the upright in injury time. But this was Chelsea’s evening, and another encouraging step forward for their recently-appointed manager at a stadium he is familiar with very well.

Cup History Look Good

That made for an in the end routine night's performance, and the cup competition signs are positive from here for the winners. They have played Hull on three previous occasions in this competition in the past ten years and every single time, they have gone on to make the showpiece. There is still work in that respect, but this was another significant positive for Rosenior.