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Amid sleet, snow, and a swirling wind off the banks of the Humber, combined with a resolute Hull City side fighting for promotion, this had all the ingredients of a difficult night's work for Chelsea.

"We could have scored more but Hull are a good team and it was a tough fixture; I am delighted with the performance," the manager stated. "This club means a lot to me so it was great to get a positive welcome from the fans of fans. The attitude of the lads was excellent."

Liam Rosenior has this city close to his heart, considering part of his relatives hail from Hull and his enjoyable spell in management of the Championship club. This positive connection was extended with a magnificent performance from his squad, who in the end sauntered into the next round of the FA Cup.

Deadly Edge Secures Comprehensive Win

Seventy-two hours removed from surrendering a 2-0 advantage in the Premier League, there was a sniff of fragility about them going into this intriguing tie. The capacity Hull crowd evidently felt it too, but Rosenior's men handled the challenge with ease.

Rosenior made alterations, making multiple of them to his XI. The tie might and maybe ought to have been settled earlier than it actually was, with two the Brazilian winger and the forward guilty of missing excellent opportunities to put their side in front in the first half.

However, luckily for the visitors, Pedro Neto was in a far more ruthless frame of mind. He opened the deadlock with a spectacular long-range strike, which acted as the spark for his team to assume command of the match. By full time, they had four, with the forward netting three of them for a brilliant hat-trick.

The Forward's Redemption and Impact

The home side showed plenty of spirit throughout, but the better opportunities consistently came to the visitors. Estêvão should have broken the deadlock when he went past goalkeeper Dillon Phillips before unbelievably firing over. The striker then had a comparable horror moment in front of goal against his former club.

He blocked a the goalkeeper's clearance which bounced off the crossbar, and Delap began to run away believing the ball had gone over the line. It hadn’t, and by the time he understood, Hull's backline had reacted to clear the threat.

The player had his head in his hands after that miss, but he was immensely instrumental from there on out, registering 3 assists. The first was for the first goal as his pass teed up his teammate to score from outside the box. Shortly after the second half began, it was 2-0 as Neto's corner went directly in through Phillips's legs.

Contest Put Beyond Doubt and Attention Turns

Soon after Neto’s second goal, the tie was effectively ended as a dazzling run from the forward teed up his teammate to slide into an unguarded goal. The hat-trick hero then finished his treble as the provider again delivered the decisive pass for the striker to calmly slot by a helpless Phillips.

By that stage, the work Hull had done in the opening thirty minutes had long since forgotten. Their focus must now switch back to securing a return to the top division under their manager, who left out several first-choice individuals with that goal in mind.

"In my opinion we deserved at least one goal but if we perform like this we will be in a very good position in the Championship," he said. "Never surrender, maybe in the next games this can be a positive lesson of how we must play."

Hull showed great endeavour to the final whistle, and they almost got a late goal when a substitute struck a the upright in stoppage time. But this was Chelsea’s night, and another positive step forward for their new manager at a stadium he knows intimately.

Cup History Look Good

The result resulted in an in the end routine evening’s performance, and the FA Cup-shaped omens are good from here for Chelsea. They have faced Hull on three other times in this competition in the last decade and on each occasion, they have progressed to reach the final. There is still work in that respect, but this was another huge tick for the Chelsea boss.