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Amid sleet, snow, and a biting wind from the banks of the Humber, combined with a determined Hull City side pushing hard for a top-flight place, this had all the ingredients of a challenging evening’s work for Chelsea.

"We could have added to our tally but Hull are a strong team and it was a difficult fixture; I’m delighted with the display," he said. "Hull City is very special to me so it was nice to get a good welcome from the fans of supporters. The application of the lads was superb."

The Rosenior holds this place dear to him, considering some of his relatives hail from Hull and his enjoyable period in management of the Championship club. This positive connection continued with a magnificent performance from his squad, who ultimately strolled into the fifth round of the famous old competition.

Deadly Finishing Secures Comprehensive Victory

Seventy-two hours after surrendering a two-goal lead in the Premier League, there was a sniff of vulnerability about them going into this potentially tricky tie. The packed Hull crowd clearly felt it too, but Rosenior's men navigated the task perfectly.

The manager rang the changes, enacting seven of them to his starting lineup. The tie could and perhaps should have been settled long before it actually was, with two Estêvão Willian and Liam Delap at fault for missing excellent opportunities to put Chelsea ahead in the opening period.

But, luckily for the visitors, their Portuguese attacker was in a much more ruthless mood. He opened the deadlock with a spectacular long-range effort, which proved to be the spark for his team to assume command of the match. By full time, they had four, with Neto netting a trio of them for a brilliant three-goal haul.

The Forward's Response and Influence

The home side showed plenty of spirit throughout, but the better opportunities consistently came Chelsea’s way. The winger ought to have broken the scoring when he rounded keeper the Hull stopper before unbelievably firing over. Delap then had a similar horror moment in front of goal against his old team.

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

The player had his head in his hands after that miss, but he was immensely influential from there on out, providing three key passes. The first was for the first goal as his through ball set up Neto to finish from outside the box. Shortly after the second half began, it was 2-0 as the forward's corner went directly in through Phillips's legs.

Tie Sealed and Focus Turns

Seven minutes after Neto’s second, the tie was effectively ended as a dazzling dribble from Delap laid on his teammate to tap into an unguarded goal. Neto then finished his treble as the provider once again delivered the crucial ball for the attacker to coolly slot past a stranded Phillips.

At that point, the effort Hull had put in in the first thirty minutes had long since forgotten. Their focus must now switch back to achieving a return to the top division under Sergej Jakirovic, who rested a number of key individuals with that aim in mind.

"In my opinion we deserved at least one goal but if we perform like this we will be in a very good situation in the league," the Hull manager commented. "Keep fighting, maybe in the next matches this can be a positive lesson of how we must play."

Hull showed plenty of effort to the end, and they almost got a consolation when a substitute struck a post in stoppage time. But this was Chelsea’s night, and another positive step forward for their recently-appointed manager at a place he knows very well.

Cup Omens Look Good

The result resulted in an ultimately straightforward evening’s work, and the cup competition signs are positive from here for Chelsea. They have faced Hull on three other times in this competition in the last decade and every single time, they have gone on to make the showpiece. There is remains to be work in that regard, but this was another significant tick for Rosenior.