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Amid sleet, flurries, and a swirling wind from the banks of the Humber, combined with a determined Hull City side fighting for promotion, this presented all the makings of a difficult evening’s work for Chelsea.

"We could have scored more but Hull are a good team and it was a tough tie; I am very pleased 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 attitude of the players was superb."

Liam Chelsea manager holds this city dear to him, given part of his family are from Hull and his enjoyable period in management of the Championship club. His happy association continued with a commanding display from his team, who in the end strolled into the next round of the FA Cup.

Clinical Edge Seals Comprehensive Victory

Three days removed from letting slip a 2-0 advantage in the league, there was a sniff of fragility about them going into this potentially tricky tie. The packed Hull support clearly sensed it too, but the London side handled the task perfectly.

Rosenior made alterations, making multiple of them to his XI. The match might and perhaps ought to have been settled earlier than it actually was, with two Estêvão Willian and the forward at fault for spurning glorious opportunities to put Chelsea ahead in the opening period.

However, fortunately for the away team, their Portuguese attacker was in a far more clinical mood. He opened the scoring with a spectacular distance effort, which proved to be the spark for his team to take command of proceedings. By the final whistle, they had 4 goals, with the forward scoring three of them for a brilliant three-goal haul.

The Forward's Response and Impact

Hull displayed great spirit all game, but the better opportunities always came to the visitors. The winger ought to have opened the deadlock when he went past goalkeeper the Hull stopper before unbelievably firing over. Delap then had a comparable horror moment in front of goal against his former club.

He deflected a the goalkeeper's kick which bounced back from the bar, and he began 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 clear the danger.

The player had his head in his hands after that miss, but he was hugely influential from that point onward, registering 3 key passes. The opening was for the opening goal as his through ball teed up Neto to finish from range. Six minutes after the second half began, it was 2-0 as Neto's corner went straight in under Phillips's legs.

Tie Sealed and Focus Turns

Seven minutes after the second goal, the tie was effectively ended as a magnificent dribble from Delap teed up Estêvão to tap into an empty net. Neto then finished his treble as the provider once again played the decisive pass for the attacker to coolly slot past a stranded goalkeeper.

By that stage, the effort Hull had done in the opening half-hour had long since forgotten. Their priority must now switch back to achieving a promotion to the top division under their manager, who rested several first-choice players with that goal in mind.

"I think we deserved at least one goal but if we play like this we will be in a strong position in the Championship," the Hull manager commented. "Never surrender, maybe in the next matches this can be a good lesson of how we must play."

There was plenty of effort to the final whistle, and they nearly claimed a late goal when Lewis Koumas struck a the upright in injury time. But this was Chelsea’s night, and another encouraging step forward for their recently-appointed manager at a stadium he knows very well.

Cup History Look Good

The result resulted in an ultimately routine night's work, and the cup competition omens are good from here for Chelsea. They have played Hull on three other times in this tournament in the past ten years and every single time, they have progressed to make the final. Much remains to be work in that regard, but this was another significant tick for Rosenior.