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Amid sleet, snow, and a swirling wind off the waters of the Humber, combined with a resolute home side pushing hard for a top-flight place, this had all the ingredients of a difficult night's task for the visitors.

"We could have scored more but Hull are a good team and it was a difficult fixture; I’m very pleased with the performance," he said. "Hull City is very special to me so it was great to get a good reception from the fans of supporters. The application of the players was superb."

The Rosenior has this place close to his heart, considering part of his relatives are from Hull and his successful spell in management of the Tigers. His positive connection continued with a magnificent performance from his squad, who ultimately strolled into the next round of the famous old competition.

Deadly Finishing Secures Comprehensive Win

Seventy-two hours removed from letting slip a two-goal lead in the league, there was a sniff of fragility about Chelsea going into this potentially tricky cup clash. The capacity Hull crowd evidently felt it too, but the London side handled the task with ease.

The manager made alterations, making multiple of them to his starting lineup. The tie could and maybe ought to have been settled earlier than it eventually was, with both Estêvão Willian and Liam Delap guilty of spurning excellent opportunities to put Chelsea ahead in the first half.

However, fortunately for the away team, Pedro Neto was in a far more clinical frame of mind. He opened the deadlock with a spectacular distance effort, which proved to be the catalyst for his team to assume command of proceedings. By the final whistle, they had 4 goals, with Neto netting three of them for a superb hat-trick.

The Forward's Redemption and Influence

Hull showed plenty of spirit all game, but the clearer chances always came Chelsea’s way. The winger should have broken the scoring when he rounded keeper the Hull stopper before unbelievably shooting over. The striker then had a comparable nightmare incident in front of goal against his former club.

He deflected a Phillips's kick which bounced off the crossbar, and he started to celebrate thinking the ball had crossed the line. It had not, and by the time he realised, Hull's backline had responded 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 three assists. The opening was for the first goal as his pass teed up his teammate to finish from outside the box. Shortly after the second half began, it was 2-0 as the forward's set-piece went straight in under Phillips's legs.

Tie Put Beyond Doubt and Attention Shifts

Seven minutes after the second goal, the tie was effectively ended as a magnificent dribble from Delap laid on Estêvão to slide into an empty net. The hat-trick hero then completed his treble as the provider again played the crucial ball for the attacker to calmly slot by a helpless goalkeeper.

By that stage, the effort Hull had done in the first half-hour had been forgotten. Their priority must now switch back to securing a return to the top division under their manager, who left out a number of key 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 situation in the Championship," he said. "Never surrender, maybe in the upcoming matches this can be a good lesson of how we should play."

Hull showed great endeavour to the final whistle, and they nearly claimed a late goal when Lewis Koumas hit a the upright in injury time. But this was the Blues' evening, and another encouraging step forward for their new manager at a place he knows very well.

FA Cup History Are Promising

That resulted in an in the end straightforward night's work, and the FA Cup-shaped signs are good from here for the winners. They have played Hull on three previous occasions in this competition in the past ten years and every single time, they have progressed to reach the final. Much still work in that respect, but this was another significant tick for Rosenior.