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Amid sleet, flurries, and a swirling wind from the waters of the Humber, alongside a determined home side pushing hard for a top-flight place, this presented all the ingredients of a difficult night's work for Chelsea.

"We might have added to our tally but the opposition are a strong team and it was a tough tie; I am very pleased with the performance," the manager stated. "Hull City means a lot to me so it was nice to get a positive welcome from both sets of fans. The attitude of the lads was excellent."

Liam Rosenior has this place dear to him, given part of his relatives are from Hull and his successful spell in management of the Tigers. His positive association continued with a magnificent performance from his squad, who in the end sauntered into the next round of the famous old competition.

Clinical Finishing Secures Comprehensive Victory

Seventy-two hours after letting slip a 2-0 advantage in the Premier League, there was a sniff of fragility about them going into this potentially tricky cup clash. The capacity home crowd evidently sensed it too, but the London side handled the challenge perfectly.

Rosenior made alterations, making seven of them to his XI. The tie could and perhaps should have been settled long before it eventually was, with both Estêvão Willian and Liam Delap at fault for spurning excellent chances to put their side in front in the opening period.

But, luckily for the away team, Pedro Neto was in a much more clinical frame of mind. He opened the deadlock with a spectacular long-range effort, which proved to be the catalyst for Chelsea to take command of the match. By the final whistle, they had four, with the forward scoring three of them for a superb hat-trick.

Delap's Response and Impact

Hull displayed great spirit all game, but the better opportunities consistently came Chelsea’s way. The winger ought to have broken the scoring when he rounded keeper the Hull stopper before unbelievably firing over. Delap then had a comparable horror moment in front of goal against his old team.

He deflected a the goalkeeper's kick which bounced off the bar, and he began to run away believing the ball had gone over the line. It had not, and by the time he realised, Hull's defenders had responded to avert the threat.

The player had his head in his hands after that miss, but he was hugely influential from that point onward, registering 3 key passes. The opening was for the opening goal as his through ball set up Neto to score from range. Shortly after the second half began, it was 2-0 as the forward's corner went straight in under the keeper's legs.

Contest Sealed and Focus Turns

Soon after Neto’s second goal, the tie was effectively ended as a dazzling dribble from Delap teed up Estêvão to slide into an empty net. Neto then completed his hat-trick as the provider once again delivered the decisive pass for the attacker to calmly convert past a helpless Phillips.

By that stage, the work Hull had done in the first half-hour had been forgotten. Their priority must now return to achieving a return to the top division under their manager, who left out several key individuals with that aim in mind.

"In my opinion we deserved at least one goal but if we play like this we will be in a very good position in the league," he said. "Keep fighting, maybe in the upcoming games this can be a good example of how we should play."

There was great effort to the end, and they nearly claimed a late goal when Lewis Koumas struck a post in stoppage time. But this was the Blues' night, and another positive step forward for their recently-appointed manager at a place he knows intimately.

Cup Omens Are Promising

The result made for an ultimately routine night's performance, and the cup competition omens are good from here for Chelsea. They have faced Hull on three previous occasions in this competition in the past ten years and every single time, they have progressed to make the final. There is remains to be work in that regard, but this was another significant tick for the Chelsea boss.