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Amid sleet, flurries, and a biting breeze from the waters of the Humber Estuary, alongside a resolute Hull City side pushing hard for a top-flight place, this presented all the makings of a challenging evening’s task for the visitors.

"We could have added to our tally but Hull are a good team and it was a tough fixture; I am delighted with the display," the manager stated. "Hull City means a lot to me so it was great to get a positive welcome from both sets of fans. The attitude of the players was excellent."

The Rosenior has this place dear to him, considering part of his relatives hail from Hull and his successful spell in charge of the Championship club. This happy association continued with a commanding performance from his squad, who ultimately strolled into the fifth round of the famous old competition.

Clinical Edge Seals Comfortable Win

Seventy-two hours after letting slip a two-goal lead in the league, there was a sniff of fragility about them going into this potentially tricky tie. The capacity Hull crowd evidently felt it too, but the London side navigated the task perfectly.

Rosenior rang the changes, making seven of them to his XI. The tie might and perhaps should have been settled long before it eventually was, with both the Brazilian winger and the forward guilty of missing glorious opportunities to put their side in front in the first half.

But, luckily for the away team, Pedro Neto was in a much more clinical mood. He broke the deadlock with a marvellous long-range effort, which proved to be the spark for his team to assume control of the match. By the final whistle, they had 4 goals, with Neto netting three of them for a brilliant hat-trick.

The Forward's Response and Impact

Hull showed great spirit throughout, but the better opportunities always came to the visitors. The winger should have broken the deadlock when he rounded goalkeeper Dillon Phillips before inexplicably shooting over. Delap then had a similar nightmare moment in front of goal against his former club.

He deflected a the goalkeeper's clearance which bounced off the crossbar, and he started to celebrate thinking the ball had crossed the line. It hadn’t, and by the time he realised, Hull's defenders had reacted to avert the threat.

The player had his head in his hands after that moment, but he was immensely instrumental from there on out, registering three key passes. The first was for the first goal as his through ball teed up his teammate to score from range. Shortly after the restart, it was 2-0 as the forward's corner went directly in under Phillips's legs.

Contest Put Beyond Doubt and Focus Turns

Soon after Neto’s second goal, the match was effectively ended as a magnificent run from the forward teed up Estêvão to slide into an unguarded goal. Neto then finished his hat-trick as the provider again delivered the crucial ball for the striker to calmly convert by a stranded goalkeeper.

At that point, the effort Hull had done in the opening half-hour had been forgotten. Their priority must now switch back to securing a promotion to the top division under their manager, who left out several key individuals with that aim 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," the Hull manager commented. "Never surrender, maybe in the upcoming games this can be a positive example of how we must play."

There was great effort to the end, and they almost got a late goal when Lewis Koumas hit a the upright in stoppage time. But this was Chelsea’s night, and another positive stride for their new head coach at a place he is familiar with intimately.

Cup History Look Good

That made for an ultimately straightforward night's performance, and the FA Cup-shaped signs are positive from here for the winners. They have faced Hull on three other occasions in this competition in the last decade and on each occasion, they have progressed to make the final. Much remains to be work in that respect, but this was another significant positive for the Chelsea boss.