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Amid freezing rain, snow, and a biting wind off the waters of the Humber Estuary, alongside a resolute home side fighting for promotion, this presented all the makings of a challenging evening’s work for the visitors.

"We could have added to our tally but the opposition are a good team and it was a tough tie; I’m delighted with the display," he said. "This club means a lot to me so it was nice to get a positive reception from both sets of fans. The attitude of the lads was excellent."

Liam Rosenior has this city dear to him, considering part of his family hail from Hull and his enjoyable spell in charge of the Tigers. This happy association continued with a magnificent display from his squad, who ultimately strolled into the fifth round of the famous old competition.

Clinical Finishing Secures Comprehensive Win

Seventy-two hours removed from surrendering a 2-0 advantage in the Premier League, there was a hint of vulnerability about them going into this potentially tricky tie. The packed home crowd clearly felt it too, but Rosenior's men handled the challenge with ease.

The manager rang the changes, making multiple of them to his starting lineup. The tie might and perhaps should have been decided earlier than it eventually was, with both Estêvão Willian and the forward at fault for spurning glorious opportunities to put their side ahead in the opening period.

But, luckily for the away team, their Portuguese attacker was in a far more clinical mood. He opened the scoring with a spectacular distance strike, which proved to be the spark for his team to take control of proceedings. By the final whistle, they had four, with Neto scoring a trio of them for a superb hat-trick.

Delap's Response and Impact

Hull showed great fight throughout, but the better opportunities always came Chelsea’s way. Estêvão ought to have opened the scoring when he rounded keeper the Hull stopper before unbelievably shooting over. Delap then had a comparable horror moment in front of goal against his former club.

He blocked a Phillips's kick which came off the bar, and Delap started to celebrate thinking the ball had crossed the line. It had not, and by the time he understood, Hull's backline had reacted to clear the threat.

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

Contest Sealed and Attention Turns

Soon after the second, the match was put beyond doubt as a dazzling dribble from the forward laid on Estêvão to slide into an empty net. Neto then completed his treble as Delap again played the crucial ball for the attacker to coolly convert past a helpless goalkeeper.

By that stage, the work Hull had done in the opening half-hour had been forgotten. Their focus must now switch back to achieving a promotion to the Premier League under Sergej Jakirovic, who left out a number of key individuals with that goal in mind.

"In my opinion we earned at least one goal but if we play like this we will be in a very good position in the Championship," the Hull manager commented. "Keep fighting, maybe in the upcoming matches this can be a good example of how we should play."

Hull showed great endeavour to the end, and they almost claimed a late goal when a substitute hit a the upright in stoppage time. But this was Chelsea’s evening, and another encouraging stride for their new manager at a stadium he knows intimately.

FA Cup History Are Promising

The result resulted in an ultimately straightforward evening’s performance, and the cup competition omens are good from here for Chelsea. They have played Hull on three previous times in this tournament in the last decade and on each occasion, they have gone on to reach the final. Much remains to be work in that respect, but this was another significant tick for the Chelsea boss.