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Amid sleet, snow, and a biting wind from the waters of the Humber, alongside a resolute Hull City side pushing hard for a top-flight place, this presented all the makings of a difficult night's work for Chelsea.

"We might have scored more but the opposition are a good team and it was a tough tie; I am very pleased with the display," the manager stated. "Hull City means a lot to me so it was great to get a good welcome from the fans of supporters. The application of the players was excellent."

Liam Rosenior holds this place dear to him, considering part of his family are from Hull and his successful spell in charge of the Tigers. His happy connection continued with a commanding performance from his team, who ultimately strolled into the next round of the famous old competition.

Clinical Edge Secures Comprehensive Win

Seventy-two hours removed from letting slip a two-goal lead in the Premier League, there was a hint of fragility about Chelsea going into this intriguing tie. The capacity home crowd clearly sensed it too, but the London side navigated the task with ease.

Rosenior made alterations, making seven of them to his starting lineup. The tie might and perhaps should have been decided earlier than it eventually was, with two the Brazilian winger and Liam Delap guilty of missing excellent chances to put their side in front in the opening period.

But, luckily for the visitors, Pedro Neto was in a far more clinical mood. He broke the deadlock with a spectacular distance effort, which proved to be the catalyst for Chelsea to assume control of the match. By the final whistle, they had four, with the forward netting three of them for a superb hat-trick.

The Forward's Response and Impact

The home side showed plenty of fight all game, but the better chances consistently fell Chelsea’s way. The winger should have broken the deadlock when he went past goalkeeper Dillon Phillips before inexplicably firing over. Delap then had a comparable nightmare moment in front of goal against his former club.

He deflected a the goalkeeper's kick which came back from the bar, and Delap started to run away believing the ball had gone over the line. It hadn’t, and by the time he realised, Hull's defenders had responded to avert the danger.

The player had his head in his hands after that moment, but he was immensely influential from that point onward, registering three key passes. The first was for the first goal as his pass set up his teammate to finish from outside the box. Six minutes after the restart, it was 2-0 as Neto's corner went directly in under the keeper's legs.

Tie Put Beyond Doubt and Attention Turns

Seven minutes after Neto’s second, the tie was put beyond doubt as a magnificent run from the forward laid on his teammate to slide into an empty net. Neto then completed his treble as the provider again played the decisive ball for the attacker to coolly slot by a stranded goalkeeper.

By that stage, the work Hull had done in the opening half-hour had been forgotten. Their priority must now switch back to securing a promotion to the top division under their manager, who rested several first-choice players with that goal in mind.

"In my opinion we deserved at least one goal but if we play like this we will be in a strong position in the league," he said. "Never surrender, maybe in the next games this can be a good lesson of how we must play."

There was plenty of effort to the end, and they nearly claimed a late goal when a substitute struck a the upright in injury time. But this was Chelsea’s evening, and another encouraging stride for their new manager at a stadium he is familiar with intimately.

FA Cup Omens Look Good

The result made for an ultimately straightforward night's performance, and the FA Cup-shaped signs are good from here for Chelsea. They have faced Hull on three previous occasions in this competition in the last decade and every single time, they have progressed to reach the showpiece. There is remains to be done in that regard, but this was another huge positive for the Chelsea boss.