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Against a backdrop of sleet, snow, and a biting breeze off the banks of the Humber, combined with a resolute Hull City side pushing hard for promotion, this presented all the ingredients of a challenging night'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 am delighted with the display," the manager stated. "Hull City is very special to me so it was great to get a good welcome from the fans of fans. The application of the players was superb."

Liam Rosenior has this place close to his heart, considering some of his relatives are from Hull and his enjoyable period in management of the Tigers. This happy association continued with a magnificent display from his team, who in the end sauntered into the next round of the FA Cup.

Deadly Edge Secures Comfortable Victory

Three days removed from letting slip a two-goal lead in the league, there was a sniff of vulnerability about them going into this intriguing tie. The capacity home support clearly felt it too, but the London side navigated the challenge perfectly.

The manager made alterations, making seven of them to his starting lineup. The tie could and maybe should have been settled long before it eventually was, with two Estêvão Willian and Liam Delap guilty of missing glorious chances to put their side in front in the opening period.

However, fortunately for the visitors, Pedro Neto was in a far more clinical frame of mind. He opened the scoring with a spectacular long-range effort, which acted as the spark for his team to take command of the match. By full time, they had four, with the forward scoring a trio of them for a brilliant hat-trick.

The Forward's Response and Influence

The home side showed great spirit throughout, but the better opportunities consistently came Chelsea’s way. Estêvão should have opened the scoring when he went past keeper Dillon Phillips before unbelievably firing over. Delap then had a comparable nightmare moment in front of goal against his old team.

He deflected a Phillips's clearance which came back from the bar, and he began to run away believing the ball had crossed the line. It hadn’t, and by the time he realised, Hull's backline had responded to avert the danger.

Delap had his head in his hands after that miss, but he was immensely influential from that point onward, registering 3 assists. The opening was for the opening goal as his pass set up his teammate to finish from range. Six minutes after the second half began, it was two as the forward's set-piece went straight in under the keeper's legs.

Tie Put Beyond Doubt and Focus Shifts

Soon after the second goal, the match was put beyond doubt as a magnificent run from Delap teed up his teammate to tap into an empty net. The hat-trick hero then completed his hat-trick as Delap again delivered the crucial ball for the attacker to coolly convert past a stranded Phillips.

At that point, the work Hull had put in in the first thirty minutes had long since erased. Their priority must now return to achieving a promotion to the top division under Sergej Jakirovic, who left out a number of first-choice players with that goal in mind.

"I think we deserved 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. "Never surrender, maybe in the next games this can be a positive example of how we must play."

Hull showed great endeavour to the end, and they almost claimed a consolation when Lewis Koumas hit a post in stoppage time. But this was the Blues' evening, and another encouraging stride for their new head coach at a place he is familiar with intimately.

Cup Omens Look Good

The result made for an in the end straightforward night's work, and the cup competition signs are positive from here for the winners. They have played Hull on three previous occasions in this competition in the past ten years and on each occasion, they have gone on to make the showpiece. There is still done in that regard, but this was another significant positive for Rosenior.