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Against a backdrop of freezing rain, flurries, and a swirling wind from the banks of the Humber, combined with a determined home side fighting for a top-flight place, this had all the makings of a difficult night's work for Chelsea.

"We might have added to our tally but the opposition are a strong team and it was a difficult fixture; I am delighted with the performance," the manager stated. "Hull City is very special to me so it was great to get a positive welcome from both sets of fans. The application of the players was excellent."

The Rosenior holds this place close to his heart, considering part of his family are from Hull and his enjoyable spell in charge of the Championship club. This positive connection continued with a commanding performance from his team, who ultimately strolled into the next round of the FA Cup.

Clinical Finishing Secures Comprehensive Win

Three days after surrendering a 2-0 lead in the league, there was a hint of vulnerability about them going into this potentially tricky cup clash. The capacity home support clearly sensed it too, but Rosenior's men handled 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 the forward guilty of spurning excellent chances to put their side in front in the first half.

But, fortunately for the away team, their Portuguese attacker was in a far more clinical mood. He broke the scoring with a marvellous distance strike, which acted as the catalyst for Chelsea to take command of proceedings. By full time, they had four, with Neto netting a trio of them for a brilliant three-goal haul.

The Forward's Redemption and Influence

Hull showed plenty of fight all game, but the better opportunities always came to the visitors. The winger ought to have broken the scoring when he rounded goalkeeper the Hull stopper before inexplicably firing over. The striker then had a comparable nightmare incident in front of goal against his former club.

He deflected a Phillips's kick which came off the bar, and he started to celebrate thinking the ball had crossed the line. It had not, and by the time he understood, Hull's defenders had reacted to avert the danger.

Delap had his head in his hands after that moment, but he was hugely instrumental from there on out, providing 3 assists. The opening was for the first goal as his through ball set up Neto to finish from range. Shortly after the restart, it was 2-0 as the forward's set-piece went directly in under Phillips's legs.

Contest Sealed and Focus Turns

Seven minutes after the second goal, the match was effectively ended as a magnificent dribble from the forward laid on his teammate to tap into an empty net. The hat-trick hero then finished his hat-trick as Delap once again delivered the crucial pass for the striker to calmly slot past a helpless Phillips.

At that point, the work Hull had done in the first half-hour had been forgotten. Their focus must now return to achieving a return to the Premier League under Sergej Jakirovic, who rested a number of key players with that aim in mind.

"In my opinion we earned at least one goal but if we perform like this we will be in a very good situation in the league," he said. "Keep fighting, maybe in the next games this can be a good lesson of how we should play."

There was plenty of effort to the end, and they nearly claimed a consolation when a substitute hit a the upright in injury time. But this was Chelsea’s evening, and another positive step forward for their recently-appointed manager at a stadium he knows very well.

FA Cup Omens Are Promising

That made for an ultimately straightforward night's performance, and the FA Cup-shaped omens are positive from here for Chelsea. They have played Hull on three other times in this competition in the past ten years and every single time, they have progressed to make the showpiece. There is remains to be work in that respect, but this was another significant positive for Rosenior.