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Amid freezing rain, flurries, and a biting breeze off the waters of the Humber, combined with a resolute home side fighting for promotion, this had all the ingredients of a challenging evening’s work for the visitors.

"We might have scored more but the opposition are a good team and it was a difficult tie; I’m delighted with the performance," he said. "This club is very special to me so it was nice to get a good reception from the fans of supporters. The application of the players was excellent."

Liam Chelsea manager holds this place dear to him, considering some of his family hail from Hull and his enjoyable spell in charge of the Championship club. His positive connection continued with a commanding display from his squad, who ultimately sauntered into the fifth round of the famous old competition.

Clinical Edge Seals Comprehensive Win

Three days after surrendering a 2-0 advantage in the Premier League, there was a sniff of vulnerability about Chelsea going into this intriguing tie. The capacity Hull crowd evidently felt it too, but the London side handled the challenge perfectly.

Rosenior rang the changes, enacting multiple of them to his starting lineup. The match could and maybe should have been settled long before it eventually was, with two Estêvão Willian and the forward guilty of spurning glorious opportunities to put their side ahead in the opening period.

But, fortunately for the visitors, their Portuguese attacker was in a far more ruthless mood. He broke the scoring with a marvellous long-range effort, which acted as the catalyst for Chelsea to take command of the match. By full time, they had 4 goals, with the forward scoring a trio of them for a brilliant three-goal haul.

Delap's Response and Impact

Hull showed great fight all game, but the better opportunities always came to the visitors. Estêvão should have opened the deadlock when he went past keeper Dillon Phillips before unbelievably firing over. Delap then had a similar horror incident in front of goal against his former club.

He blocked a Phillips's kick which came off the crossbar, and he began to celebrate believing the ball had crossed the line. It had not, and by the time he realised, Hull's defenders had reacted to clear the danger.

The player had his head in his hands after that miss, but he was hugely instrumental from there on out, registering three key passes. The first was for the first goal as his through ball teed up Neto to finish from range. Shortly after the restart, it was two as the forward's corner went straight in through the keeper's legs.

Contest Sealed and Attention Turns

Seven minutes after Neto’s second, the tie was put beyond doubt as a dazzling run from the forward laid on his teammate to slide into an empty net. Neto then completed his hat-trick as Delap once again delivered the crucial ball for the attacker to coolly slot past a stranded goalkeeper.

At that point, the effort Hull had done in the first thirty minutes had long since erased. Their priority must now switch back to achieving a promotion to the Premier League under their manager, who left out several key players with that aim in mind.

"I think we deserved at least one goal but if we perform like this we will be in a strong position in the league," the Hull manager commented. "Never surrender, maybe in the next games this can be a good example of how we should play."

There was plenty of endeavour to the end, and they almost got a consolation when a substitute struck a the upright in stoppage time. But this was the Blues' evening, and another positive step forward for their new head coach at a stadium he knows intimately.

Cup History Look Promising

The result resulted in an ultimately straightforward night's work, and the cup competition omens are good from here for the winners. They have faced Hull on three previous occasions in this competition in the past ten years and on each occasion, they have progressed to make the showpiece. Much still work in that regard, but this was another significant positive for the Chelsea boss.