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Amid freezing rain, snow, and a biting wind off the waters of the Humber Estuary, combined with a determined home side pushing hard for promotion, this had all the makings of a challenging night's task for Chelsea.

"We might have scored more but Hull are a strong team and it was a tough tie; I’m delighted with the performance," the manager stated. "Hull City means a lot to me so it was nice to get a good reception from both sets of supporters. The application of the players was superb."

Liam Chelsea manager holds this city dear to him, considering part of his relatives hail from Hull and his enjoyable period in management of the Championship club. His happy association continued with a magnificent display from his squad, who ultimately strolled into the fifth round of the FA Cup.

Deadly Edge Seals Comprehensive Victory

Seventy-two hours after surrendering a two-goal lead in the Premier League, there was a hint of fragility about them going into this potentially tricky tie. The packed Hull crowd evidently sensed it too, but the London side navigated the challenge with ease.

Rosenior rang the changes, enacting seven of them to his XI. The match might and maybe should have been settled earlier than it eventually was, with two the Brazilian winger and Liam Delap at fault for spurning glorious chances to put their side ahead in the opening period.

But, luckily for the visitors, their Portuguese attacker was in a far more clinical frame of mind. He broke the deadlock with a spectacular long-range strike, which proved to be the spark for Chelsea to take control of proceedings. By full time, they had four, with the forward scoring three of them for a superb hat-trick.

The Forward's Redemption and Influence

The home side showed great spirit all game, but the better opportunities consistently fell Chelsea’s way. Estêvão ought to have broken the deadlock when he rounded keeper Dillon Phillips before unbelievably firing over. Delap then had a comparable horror moment in front of goal against his old team.

He blocked a Phillips's clearance which bounced off the crossbar, and he began to celebrate thinking the ball had crossed the line. It hadn’t, and by the time he understood, Hull's backline had responded to avert the danger.

The player had his head in his hands after that moment, but he was hugely instrumental from that point onward, registering 3 key passes. The first was for the opening goal as his pass set up Neto to score from range. Shortly after the second half began, it was 2-0 as Neto's set-piece went straight in under Phillips's legs.

Contest Sealed and Attention Turns

Seven minutes after Neto’s second goal, the tie was effectively ended as a magnificent run from Delap laid on Estêvão to slide into an empty net. Neto then finished his hat-trick as the provider once again played the crucial pass for the striker to coolly slot past a helpless goalkeeper.

At that point, the work Hull had put in in the opening half-hour had been forgotten. Their priority must now switch back to achieving a return to the Premier League under Sergej Jakirovic, who left out a number of first-choice individuals with that goal in mind.

"In my opinion we earned at least one goal but if we perform like this we will be in a strong situation in the league," the Hull manager commented. "Never surrender, maybe in the next games this can be a good lesson of how we should play."

There was plenty of endeavour to the end, and they nearly got a late goal when a substitute hit a the upright in stoppage time. But this was the Blues' evening, and another encouraging stride for their recently-appointed manager at a stadium he is familiar with intimately.

Cup Omens Look Good

The result resulted in an ultimately straightforward night's performance, and the cup competition omens are positive from here for the winners. They have played Hull on three previous occasions in this tournament in the past ten years and on each occasion, they have progressed to make the final. There is still work in that respect, but this was another significant tick for Rosenior.