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Amid freezing rain, flurries, and a biting wind off the banks of the Humber, alongside a determined home side fighting for a top-flight place, this had all the ingredients of a challenging night's work 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 performance," he said. "Hull City means a lot to me so it was nice to get a positive reception from both sets of supporters. The application of the lads was superb."

The Rosenior holds this place close to his heart, given some of his relatives hail from Hull and his successful period in charge of the Championship club. His happy association was extended with a magnificent display from his squad, who in the end strolled into the fifth round of the FA Cup.

Clinical Finishing Secures Comfortable Win

Seventy-two hours after letting slip a 2-0 advantage in the league, there was a hint of fragility about them going into this potentially tricky tie. The packed home crowd evidently sensed it too, but the London side handled the task perfectly.

Rosenior made alterations, enacting multiple of them to his starting lineup. The match might and maybe should have been decided long before it eventually was, with both Estêvão Willian and the forward guilty of missing glorious opportunities to put their side in front in the opening period.

However, luckily for the visitors, their Portuguese attacker was in a much more ruthless frame of mind. He opened the scoring with a spectacular long-range strike, which proved to be the spark for Chelsea to assume command of proceedings. By the final whistle, they had 4 goals, with the forward scoring three of them for a superb three-goal haul.

The Forward's Response and Impact

The home side showed great spirit all game, but the clearer opportunities consistently came to the visitors. Estêvão ought to have broken the scoring when he went past keeper Dillon Phillips before inexplicably firing over. The striker then had a similar horror incident in front of goal against his old team.

He deflected a Phillips's clearance which came back from the bar, and he began to celebrate thinking the ball had gone over the line. It hadn’t, and by the time he realised, Hull's backline had reacted to clear the danger.

Delap had his head in his hands after that miss, but he was hugely influential from that point onward, registering three assists. The first was for the opening goal as his through ball teed up his teammate to score from range. Shortly after the restart, it was two as the forward's corner went straight in through Phillips's legs.

Tie Sealed and Attention Turns

Seven minutes after the second goal, the tie was put beyond doubt as a magnificent run from the forward teed up Estêvão to tap into an empty net. Neto then finished his hat-trick as the provider again played the decisive pass for the attacker to calmly slot past a helpless Phillips.

By that stage, the work Hull had done in the opening thirty minutes had been erased. Their focus must now return to achieving a return to the top division under Sergej Jakirovic, who rested several first-choice players with that goal in mind.

"I think 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. "Never surrender, maybe in the next matches this can be a positive lesson of how we should play."

There was plenty of effort to the end, and they almost got a consolation when Lewis Koumas hit a the upright in injury time. But this was the Blues' night, and another encouraging stride for their recently-appointed head coach at a place he knows very well.

Cup History Are Good

The result resulted in an ultimately straightforward evening’s work, and the cup competition signs are positive from here for the winners. They have faced Hull on three previous times in this competition in the last decade and every single time, they have gone on to make the showpiece. Much still done in that regard, but this was another significant tick for the Chelsea boss.