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Amid freezing rain, snow, and a biting breeze off the banks of the Humber, alongside a resolute home side pushing hard for promotion, this had all the ingredients of a challenging evening’s work for the visitors.

"We could have scored more but the opposition are a strong team and it was a tough fixture; I am very pleased with the performance," he said. "This club is very special to me so it was great to get a good welcome from both sets of supporters. The application of the players was excellent."

The Rosenior holds this city close to his heart, given some of his relatives are from Hull and his successful period in management of the Championship club. This positive association was extended with a magnificent display from his squad, who in the end sauntered into the next round of the FA Cup.

Deadly Edge Secures Comprehensive Win

Three days after surrendering a two-goal lead in the league, there was a hint of fragility about Chelsea going into this intriguing tie. The packed Hull support clearly sensed it too, but Rosenior's men handled the task perfectly.

Rosenior made alterations, enacting multiple of them to his XI. The match might and perhaps should have been decided long before it actually was, with two Estêvão Willian and Liam Delap at fault for spurning excellent chances to put their side in front in the first half.

But, fortunately for the visitors, Pedro Neto was in a much more ruthless mood. He opened the scoring with a marvellous distance effort, which acted as the catalyst for Chelsea to assume control of the match. By the final whistle, they had four, with the forward scoring three of them for a brilliant three-goal haul.

The Forward's Response and Influence

The home side showed plenty of spirit all game, but the better chances always fell to the visitors. Estêvão ought to have broken the scoring when he went past keeper the Hull stopper before inexplicably firing over. The striker then had a similar horror incident in front of goal against his former club.

He deflected a the goalkeeper's clearance which bounced back from the crossbar, and Delap started to run away thinking the ball had crossed the line. It hadn’t, and by the time he realised, Hull's backline had reacted to avert the danger.

The player had his head in his hands after that miss, but he was hugely influential from that point onward, providing 3 assists. The first was for the first goal as his through ball teed up his teammate to finish from range. Six minutes after the restart, it was 2-0 as the forward's set-piece went directly in through the keeper's legs.

Contest Sealed and Attention Shifts

Soon after the second goal, the tie was effectively ended as a dazzling run from Delap teed up Estêvão to tap into an unguarded goal. The hat-trick hero then completed his hat-trick as Delap once again played the crucial ball for the striker to calmly slot by a stranded goalkeeper.

By that stage, the work Hull had put in in the first thirty minutes had long since forgotten. Their priority must now switch back to securing a promotion to the Premier League under their manager, who rested a number of first-choice players with that goal in mind.

"I think we deserved at least one goal but if we perform like this we will be in a strong situation in the Championship," he said. "Keep fighting, maybe in the next matches this can be a positive example of how we should play."

There was great endeavour to the final whistle, and they nearly claimed a late goal when a substitute hit a the upright in stoppage time. But this was Chelsea’s night, and another encouraging stride for their recently-appointed head coach at a place he is familiar with intimately.

FA Cup History Look Good

That made for an ultimately routine night's work, and the FA Cup-shaped omens are positive from here for the winners. They have played Hull on three previous times in this tournament in the last decade and on each occasion, they have progressed to make the showpiece. There is still work in that regard, but this was another huge positive for the Chelsea boss.