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Amid sleet, flurries, and a biting breeze from the waters of the Humber, combined with a resolute Hull City side pushing hard for a top-flight place, this had all the ingredients of a challenging evening’s task for the visitors.

"We might have added to our tally but Hull are a strong team and it was a tough tie; I am delighted with the performance," he said. "Hull City means a lot to me so it was nice to get a good welcome from the fans of fans. The attitude of the players was superb."

The Rosenior has this place close to his heart, considering some of his family hail from Hull and his enjoyable spell in charge of the Tigers. His happy association continued with a commanding performance from his squad, who ultimately sauntered into the next round of the FA Cup.

Clinical Finishing Seals Comfortable Victory

Three days removed from surrendering a two-goal lead in the league, there was a sniff of vulnerability about Chelsea going into this potentially tricky cup clash. The capacity home support evidently sensed it too, but Rosenior's men navigated the challenge perfectly.

Rosenior rang the changes, making seven of them to his XI. The match might and maybe should have been decided earlier than it actually was, with two Estêvão Willian and Liam Delap at fault for spurning glorious chances to put Chelsea ahead in the opening period.

However, 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 command of proceedings. By the final whistle, they had 4 goals, with the forward scoring a trio of them for a superb three-goal haul.

The Forward's Redemption and Impact

The home side displayed plenty of fight all game, but the clearer opportunities always fell to the visitors. Estêvão should have opened the scoring when he went past keeper the Hull stopper before inexplicably shooting over. The striker then had a comparable horror incident in front of goal against his old team.

He blocked a Phillips's clearance 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 defenders had responded to avert the danger.

Delap had his head in his hands after that miss, but he was immensely influential from that point onward, registering three assists. The first was for the first goal as his pass teed up his teammate to finish from outside the box. Six minutes after the second half began, it was two as Neto's set-piece went directly in through the keeper's legs.

Contest Sealed and Focus Shifts

Soon after Neto’s second goal, the match was put beyond doubt as a dazzling dribble from the forward teed up Estêvão to tap into an empty net. The hat-trick hero then finished his treble as the provider again played the crucial ball for the attacker to calmly convert past a stranded goalkeeper.

By that stage, the effort Hull had put in in the opening half-hour had long since forgotten. Their focus must now return to securing a return to the Premier League under their manager, who rested a number of key 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 league," the Hull manager commented. "Keep fighting, maybe in the next matches this can be a good example of how we should play."

There was plenty of effort to the end, and they almost got a late goal when a substitute struck a post in injury time. But this was Chelsea’s evening, and another encouraging stride for their new manager at a place he knows intimately.

FA Cup Omens Are Good

That resulted in an ultimately straightforward night's work, and the FA Cup-shaped omens are good from here for the winners. They have faced Hull on three previous times in this tournament in the last decade and on each occasion, they have gone on to reach the final. Much still work in that regard, but this was another significant positive for Rosenior.