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Amid sleet, snow, and a biting breeze off the banks of the Humber Estuary, combined with a resolute home side fighting for a top-flight place, this had all the makings of a challenging evening’s work for Chelsea.

"We could have added to our tally but the opposition are a strong team and it was a difficult tie; I am delighted 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 attitude of the players was excellent."

The Chelsea manager has this city close to his heart, given some of his relatives are from Hull and his enjoyable period in management of the Championship club. His happy connection was extended with a magnificent performance from his team, who ultimately sauntered into the next round of the famous old competition.

Clinical Finishing Seals Comfortable Win

Seventy-two hours after letting slip a two-goal lead in the league, there was a sniff of vulnerability about them going into this potentially tricky cup clash. The packed Hull support clearly felt it too, but Rosenior's men navigated the challenge perfectly.

Rosenior rang the changes, enacting multiple of them to his XI. The match might and perhaps ought to have been decided long before it actually was, with two the Brazilian winger and the forward at fault for spurning excellent opportunities to put their side ahead in the opening period.

However, luckily for the away team, Pedro Neto was in a much more ruthless mood. He opened the scoring with a marvellous long-range strike, which acted as the catalyst for his team to assume command of proceedings. By full time, they had four, with the forward scoring a trio of them for a superb three-goal haul.

Delap's Response and Impact

The home side displayed plenty of spirit all game, but the better opportunities consistently fell Chelsea’s way. Estêvão should have broken the scoring when he went past goalkeeper the Hull stopper before unbelievably shooting over. Delap then had a comparable horror moment in front of goal against his old team.

He deflected a the goalkeeper's kick which came off the crossbar, and he began to run away believing the ball had gone over the line. It hadn’t, and by the time he understood, Hull's backline had responded to clear the danger.

Delap had his head in his hands after that moment, but he was hugely influential from there on out, registering 3 assists. The opening was for the opening goal as his pass teed up his teammate to finish from range. Six minutes after the second half began, it was two as the forward's set-piece went directly in under Phillips's legs.

Tie Sealed and Attention 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 empty net. Neto then completed his hat-trick as the provider once again delivered the crucial pass for the striker to calmly convert past a stranded goalkeeper.

By that stage, the effort Hull had put in in the first half-hour had been erased. Their priority must now switch back to achieving a promotion to the Premier League under Sergej Jakirovic, who rested a number of key individuals with that aim in mind.

"I think we deserved at least one goal but if we perform like this we will be in a very good position in the league," the Hull manager commented. "Keep fighting, maybe in the upcoming games this can be a good lesson of how we should play."

Hull showed great endeavour to the final whistle, and they almost claimed a late goal when Lewis Koumas hit a post in injury time. But this was the Blues' evening, and another encouraging step forward for their new manager at a stadium he is familiar with intimately.

Cup History Look Good

The result made for an ultimately routine night's performance, and the FA Cup-shaped signs are positive from here for the winners. They have played Hull on three other times in this tournament in the past ten years and on each occasion, they have progressed to make the final. There is remains to be work in that respect, but this was another significant tick for Rosenior.