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Amid freezing rain, flurries, and a biting wind off the waters of the Humber, alongside a resolute Hull City side pushing hard for promotion, this presented all the ingredients of a difficult night's work for Chelsea.

"We could have added to our tally but the opposition are a strong team and it was a tough fixture; I’m very pleased with the display," he said. "Hull City means a lot to me so it was great to get a good reception from both sets of supporters. The application of the lads was superb."

Liam Chelsea manager holds this city close to his heart, considering some of his relatives hail from Hull and his successful spell in charge of the Tigers. This positive association continued with a magnificent performance from his squad, who in the end strolled into the next round of the famous old competition.

Deadly Edge Seals Comfortable Win

Three days removed from letting slip a 2-0 advantage in the league, there was a hint of vulnerability about Chelsea going into this intriguing tie. The packed Hull crowd evidently sensed it too, but the London side navigated the challenge perfectly.

Rosenior rang the changes, making seven of them to his XI. The match could and maybe ought to have been decided long before it actually was, with two Estêvão Willian and Liam Delap guilty of spurning glorious chances to put their side ahead in the opening period.

However, luckily for the visitors, Pedro Neto was in a much more ruthless frame of mind. He opened the deadlock with a spectacular distance effort, which proved to be the catalyst for Chelsea to assume control of the match. By the final whistle, they had four, with the forward netting three of them for a superb hat-trick.

The Forward's Response and Influence

The home side displayed great spirit throughout, but the better opportunities consistently fell Chelsea’s way. Estêvão ought to have broken the deadlock when he went past keeper Dillon Phillips before inexplicably shooting over. The striker then had a similar horror moment in front of goal against his old team.

He deflected a the goalkeeper's kick which bounced off the crossbar, and he began to run away believing the ball had gone over the line. It had not, and by the time he realised, Hull's defenders had responded to clear the threat.

Delap had his head in his hands after that miss, but he was hugely influential from that point onward, providing three assists. The opening was for the opening goal as his through ball set up his teammate to finish from range. Shortly after the restart, it was 2-0 as Neto's corner went straight in under Phillips's legs.

Tie Sealed and Focus Shifts

Soon after Neto’s second goal, the tie was put beyond doubt as a dazzling run from Delap teed up Estêvão to slide into an unguarded goal. Neto then finished his hat-trick as Delap once again played the crucial ball for the striker to coolly convert past a stranded Phillips.

At that point, the work Hull had put in in the first half-hour had long since erased. Their priority must now return to achieving a return to the Premier League under Sergej Jakirovic, who left out a number of first-choice players with that goal in mind.

"I think we deserved at least one goal but if we play like this we will be in a strong position in the Championship," he said. "Keep fighting, maybe in the next matches this can be a good lesson of how we must play."

There was plenty of endeavour to the final whistle, and they nearly claimed a late goal when Lewis Koumas struck a the upright in stoppage time. But this was the Blues' evening, and another encouraging step forward for their recently-appointed head coach at a stadium he is familiar with very well.

FA Cup Omens Are Good

That made for an in the end routine night's performance, and the cup competition omens are good from here for the winners. They have faced Hull on three previous occasions in this tournament in the last decade and every single time, they have progressed to reach the final. Much remains to be done in that regard, but this was another significant tick for the Chelsea boss.