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Against a backdrop of sleet, flurries, and a swirling wind from the waters of the Humber, alongside a resolute Hull City side fighting for promotion, this presented all the makings of a difficult night's work for the visitors.

"We could have added to our tally but the opposition are a good team and it was a difficult fixture; I am very pleased with the display," the manager stated. "Hull City is very special to me so it was nice to get a positive welcome from the fans of fans. The application of the players was excellent."

The Rosenior holds this place close to his heart, considering part of his relatives hail from Hull and his successful spell in management of the Championship club. 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 Secures Comfortable Win

Three days removed from surrendering a 2-0 advantage in the Premier League, there was a sniff of vulnerability about them going into this potentially tricky cup clash. The packed home crowd evidently felt it too, but Rosenior's men handled the task with ease.

Rosenior rang the changes, making seven of them to his XI. The match might and maybe ought to have been decided long before it eventually was, with both Estêvão Willian and Liam Delap at fault for spurning glorious opportunities to put their side ahead in the first half.

However, luckily for the visitors, Pedro Neto was in a far more clinical mood. He opened the deadlock with a marvellous distance effort, which proved to be the catalyst for Chelsea to take control of proceedings. By the final whistle, they had 4 goals, with Neto scoring three of them for a superb three-goal haul.

Delap's Response and Influence

The home side showed great fight throughout, but the clearer opportunities consistently came Chelsea’s way. Estêvão should have broken the deadlock when he rounded goalkeeper the Hull stopper before unbelievably firing over. The striker then had a comparable horror moment in front of goal against his former club.

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 hadn’t, and by the time he understood, Hull's backline had reacted to avert the danger.

The player had his head in his hands after that moment, but he was immensely instrumental from there on out, providing three assists. The first was for the first goal as his through ball set up his teammate to score from outside the box. Shortly after the restart, it was two as the forward's corner went straight in through the keeper's legs.

Contest Sealed and Focus Turns

Soon after the second, the tie was effectively ended as a magnificent run from the forward laid on Estêvão to slide into an unguarded goal. Neto then finished his treble as Delap again played the decisive ball for the attacker to calmly slot past a helpless goalkeeper.

At that point, the effort Hull had put in in the first thirty minutes had long since erased. Their focus must now return to securing a promotion to the top division under their manager, who left out several first-choice players with that goal in mind.

"I think we earned at least one goal but if we play like this we will be in a strong situation in the league," he said. "Never surrender, maybe in the next matches this can be a positive lesson of how we should play."

There was plenty of endeavour to the final whistle, and they nearly claimed a late goal when Lewis Koumas struck a post in stoppage time. But this was the Blues' night, and another positive stride for their recently-appointed manager at a stadium he is familiar with very well.

FA Cup History Are Promising

The result resulted in an in the end straightforward evening’s work, and the FA Cup-shaped omens are positive from here for Chelsea. They have faced Hull on three other times in this tournament in the last decade and every single time, they have gone on to make the showpiece. Much still work in that respect, but this was another huge tick for Rosenior.