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Amid freezing rain, flurries, and a swirling wind from the banks of the Humber Estuary, alongside a resolute Hull City side pushing hard for promotion, this presented all the ingredients of a challenging night's task for the visitors.

"We could have scored more but Hull are a good team and it was a difficult fixture; I am very pleased with the display," the manager stated. "Hull City means a lot to me so it was great to get a good welcome from both sets of fans. The attitude of the players was superb."

Liam Rosenior has this place close to his heart, given part of his family hail from Hull and his successful spell in charge of the Championship club. This happy association was extended with a magnificent display from his team, who ultimately sauntered into the fifth round of the famous old competition.

Clinical Edge Seals Comfortable Win

Three days removed from surrendering a two-goal advantage in the league, there was a hint of fragility about them going into this potentially tricky tie. The capacity home crowd clearly sensed it too, but Rosenior's men handled the task perfectly.

The manager made alterations, making multiple of them to his starting lineup. The match could and perhaps ought to have been settled long before it eventually was, with two the Brazilian winger and the forward guilty of missing excellent chances to put Chelsea in front in the opening period.

But, luckily for the away team, Pedro Neto was in a far more clinical frame of mind. He opened the scoring with a marvellous long-range effort, which acted as the catalyst for his team to take command of proceedings. By full time, they had four, with Neto netting a trio of them for a brilliant hat-trick.

Delap's Redemption and Impact

Hull displayed great spirit throughout, but the clearer opportunities always came to the visitors. The winger ought to have broken the deadlock when he went past keeper the Hull stopper before inexplicably shooting over. The striker then had a comparable horror moment in front of goal against his old team.

He blocked a the goalkeeper's clearance which came back from the bar, and Delap began to run away thinking the ball had gone over the line. It hadn’t, and by the time he realised, Hull's backline had responded to clear the danger.

The player had his head in his hands after that miss, but he was immensely instrumental from that point onward, registering three assists. The opening was for the first goal as his through ball set up Neto to score from range. Six minutes after the restart, it was two as the forward's corner went straight in through the keeper's legs.

Contest Put Beyond Doubt and Attention Shifts

Seven minutes after the second, the match was effectively ended as a magnificent run from the forward laid on his teammate to tap into an unguarded goal. The hat-trick hero then completed his hat-trick as Delap again played the decisive pass for the attacker to calmly convert by a helpless goalkeeper.

By that stage, the work Hull had done in the first thirty minutes had long since erased. Their focus must now switch back to achieving a promotion to the Premier League under their manager, who left out several first-choice individuals with that goal in mind.

"I think we deserved at least one goal but if we play like this we will be in a very good position in the league," the Hull manager commented. "Keep fighting, maybe in the next matches this can be a positive example of how we must play."

There was plenty of endeavour to the end, and they almost got a late goal when Lewis Koumas hit a post in stoppage time. But this was Chelsea’s night, and another encouraging stride for their recently-appointed head coach at a place he is familiar with intimately.

Cup Omens Are Promising

The result made for an ultimately routine evening’s performance, and the cup competition signs are positive from here for Chelsea. They have faced Hull on three previous occasions in this competition in the last decade and every single time, they have gone on to make the showpiece. There is still work in that regard, but this was another significant positive for Rosenior.