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Amid sleet, snow, and a biting breeze off the banks of the Humber Estuary, combined with a resolute Hull City side pushing hard for promotion, this presented all the ingredients of a challenging evening’s task for the visitors.

"We could have added to our tally but the opposition are a good team and it was a tough fixture; I’m delighted with the display," the manager stated. "This club is very special to me so it was nice to get a good reception from both sets of fans. The application of the players was superb."

The Chelsea manager holds this city dear to him, given part of his family hail from Hull and his successful period in charge of the Tigers. This positive association continued with a commanding display from his team, who in the end sauntered into the fifth round of the FA Cup.

Clinical Finishing Secures Comfortable Win

Seventy-two hours removed from letting slip a two-goal advantage in the league, there was a sniff of vulnerability about them going into this intriguing cup clash. The packed home crowd evidently felt it too, but Rosenior's men handled the challenge with ease.

The manager made alterations, enacting multiple of them to his XI. The match might and maybe ought to have been decided long before it actually was, with both the Brazilian winger and the forward guilty of spurning excellent chances to put their side ahead in the first half.

However, fortunately for the away team, Pedro Neto was in a much more ruthless mood. He broke the deadlock with a spectacular long-range strike, which acted as the catalyst for Chelsea to take command of proceedings. By full time, they had four, with Neto netting three of them for a brilliant three-goal haul.

Delap's Redemption and Impact

The home side showed plenty of fight all game, but the better opportunities always came Chelsea’s way. Estêvão should have broken the deadlock when he rounded goalkeeper Dillon Phillips before inexplicably shooting over. Delap then had a comparable horror moment in front of goal against his former club.

He deflected a the goalkeeper's kick which bounced off the bar, and he started to run away thinking the ball had gone over the line. It hadn’t, and by the time he realised, Hull's backline had reacted to avert the danger.

Delap had his head in his hands after that miss, but he was immensely instrumental from that point onward, registering three key passes. The opening was for the opening goal as his pass set up his teammate to finish from range. Six minutes after the second half began, it was 2-0 as the forward's corner went straight in under the keeper's legs.

Contest Sealed and Focus Turns

Soon after the second, the match was put beyond doubt as a dazzling dribble from Delap teed up his teammate to slide into an unguarded goal. The hat-trick hero then completed his treble as Delap again played the crucial ball for the attacker to calmly slot past a stranded goalkeeper.

At that point, the effort Hull had put in in the opening half-hour had long since erased. Their priority must now return to achieving a promotion to the Premier League under their manager, who left out several key players 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 strong situation in the league," the Hull manager commented. "Keep fighting, maybe in the next matches this can be a positive lesson of how we should play."

Hull showed plenty of effort to the final whistle, and they nearly claimed a late goal when Lewis Koumas struck a the upright in injury time. But this was Chelsea’s night, and another encouraging stride for their new manager at a place he knows very well.

FA Cup Omens Look Promising

The result resulted in an ultimately straightforward night's work, and the FA Cup-shaped omens are positive from here for the winners. They have played Hull on three other occasions in this competition in the past ten years and every single time, they have gone on to make the final. Much still done in that regard, but this was another huge tick for the Chelsea boss.