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Amid freezing rain, snow, and a biting breeze off the waters of the Humber Estuary, alongside a determined home side fighting for promotion, this presented all the ingredients of a challenging evening’s work for the visitors.

"We might have scored more but the opposition are a strong team and it was a difficult tie; I’m very pleased with the display," the manager stated. "Hull City is very special to me so it was great to get a positive reception from both sets of supporters. The attitude of the lads was excellent."

Liam Rosenior holds this place dear to him, given part of his family are from Hull and his successful spell in management of the Tigers. His happy connection continued with a magnificent display from his team, who ultimately sauntered into the next round of the famous old competition.

Clinical Finishing Secures Comfortable Win

Seventy-two hours removed from letting slip a 2-0 advantage in the Premier League, there was a hint of fragility about Chelsea going into this intriguing tie. The packed Hull crowd clearly felt it too, but Rosenior's men handled the challenge with ease.

Rosenior rang the changes, enacting seven of them to his XI. The tie might and maybe ought to have been settled long before it eventually was, with both Estêvão Willian and Liam Delap guilty of missing glorious opportunities to put Chelsea in front in the opening period.

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

Delap's Response and Impact

The home side showed great fight all game, but the clearer opportunities consistently fell Chelsea’s way. Estêvão should have broken the scoring when he went past keeper the Hull stopper before unbelievably shooting over. The striker then had a comparable nightmare moment in front of goal against his former club.

He deflected a the goalkeeper's clearance which came back from the bar, and Delap began to celebrate believing the ball had crossed the line. It had not, and by the time he understood, Hull's defenders had reacted to clear the danger.

The player had his head in his hands after that moment, but he was hugely influential from that point onward, providing 3 key passes. The first was for the opening goal as his pass teed up Neto to score from outside the box. Shortly after the second half began, it was 2-0 as the forward's corner went directly in through the keeper's legs.

Contest Put Beyond Doubt and Attention Shifts

Seven minutes after the second, the match was put beyond doubt as a magnificent dribble from the forward teed up Estêvão to slide into an empty net. Neto then finished his treble as the provider again played the crucial pass for the attacker to coolly slot past a stranded Phillips.

By that stage, the effort Hull had done in the opening thirty minutes had long since erased. Their priority must now return to securing a promotion to the top division under Sergej Jakirovic, who rested several first-choice individuals with that aim in mind.

"In my opinion we earned at least one goal but if we play like this we will be in a very good position in the Championship," he said. "Keep fighting, maybe in the upcoming games this can be a good example of how we must play."

Hull showed plenty of endeavour to the end, and they almost got a consolation when a substitute struck a post in stoppage time. But this was the Blues' evening, and another positive step forward for their new manager at a stadium he knows intimately.

Cup History Look Promising

The result made for an ultimately straightforward night's work, and the FA Cup-shaped signs are good from here for the winners. They have played Hull on three previous times in this competition in the last decade and every single time, they have gone on to reach the showpiece. Much still work in that regard, but this was another significant tick for Rosenior.