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Amid freezing rain, snow, and a biting breeze off the banks of the Humber Estuary, combined with a determined Hull City side fighting for promotion, this had all the makings of a difficult night's work for Chelsea.

"We might have added to our tally but Hull are a strong team and it was a difficult tie; I’m very pleased with the performance," he said. "Hull City is very special to me so it was nice to get a good welcome from the fans of supporters. The application of the lads was superb."

Liam Rosenior holds this place dear to him, given part of his family are from Hull and his successful spell in charge of the Championship club. His happy connection continued with a commanding display from his squad, who ultimately strolled into the fifth round of the FA Cup.

Clinical Finishing Seals Comfortable Victory

Seventy-two hours after letting slip a 2-0 lead in the Premier League, there was a hint of fragility about Chelsea going into this intriguing tie. The packed home support clearly sensed it too, but Rosenior's men navigated the challenge perfectly.

Rosenior rang the changes, making multiple of them to his starting lineup. The match could and perhaps ought to have been decided earlier than it actually was, with two the Brazilian winger and the forward guilty of missing excellent opportunities to put Chelsea ahead in the first half.

But, fortunately for the visitors, their Portuguese attacker was in a far more ruthless mood. He opened the deadlock with a marvellous distance effort, which acted as the spark for his team to take command of proceedings. By full time, they had 4 goals, with the forward scoring a trio of them for a brilliant three-goal haul.

The Forward's Redemption and Influence

The home side displayed plenty of spirit all game, but the better chances always came to the visitors. The winger should have broken the deadlock when he went past goalkeeper Dillon Phillips before inexplicably shooting over. The striker then had a similar horror incident in front of goal against his old team.

He deflected a the goalkeeper's kick which came back from the crossbar, and he began to celebrate thinking the ball had gone over the line. It had not, and by the time he understood, Hull's defenders had reacted to avert the threat.

The player had his head in his hands after that miss, but he was immensely instrumental from that point onward, providing 3 key passes. The first was for the opening goal as his pass teed up Neto to score from outside the box. Shortly after the second half began, it was 2-0 as the forward's set-piece went straight in through the keeper's legs.

Tie Put Beyond Doubt and Focus Shifts

Seven minutes after the second, the tie was effectively ended as a magnificent dribble from Delap laid on his teammate to slide into an unguarded goal. The hat-trick hero then completed his hat-trick as the provider again played the crucial pass for the attacker to calmly convert by a stranded goalkeeper.

By that stage, the effort Hull had put in in the first thirty minutes had long since forgotten. Their priority must now switch back to securing a return to the Premier League under Sergej Jakirovic, who rested a number of first-choice individuals with that aim in mind.

"In my opinion we deserved at least one goal but if we perform like this we will be in a strong position in the Championship," he said. "Keep fighting, maybe in the next games this can be a good example of how we must play."

There was great effort to the end, and they nearly got a consolation when a substitute struck a the upright in stoppage time. But this was the Blues' night, and another encouraging stride for their recently-appointed head coach at a stadium he is familiar with intimately.

FA Cup Omens Look Good

That resulted in an in the end routine night's performance, and the cup competition omens are good from here for Chelsea. They have played Hull on three previous occasions in this tournament in the last decade and every single time, they have gone on to make the final. Much still done in that respect, but this was another significant tick for Rosenior.