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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 fighting for promotion, this had all the makings of a challenging evening’s task for the visitors.

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

Liam Rosenior holds this city dear to him, given some of his relatives are from Hull and his enjoyable period in charge of the Tigers. This happy connection was extended with a magnificent display from his squad, who ultimately strolled into the fifth round of the FA Cup.

Clinical Edge Seals Comprehensive Win

Seventy-two hours removed from letting slip a two-goal lead in the Premier League, there was a hint of fragility about them going into this potentially tricky tie. The capacity Hull support clearly felt it too, but the London side navigated the challenge with ease.

The manager rang the changes, making seven of them to his starting lineup. The match might and perhaps ought to have been decided long before it actually was, with both the Brazilian winger and Liam Delap at fault for spurning glorious chances to put Chelsea in front in the first half.

However, fortunately for the away team, their Portuguese attacker was in a far more clinical mood. He broke the deadlock with a marvellous distance effort, which proved to be the spark for Chelsea to take command of proceedings. By the final whistle, they had four, with Neto scoring three of them for a brilliant hat-trick.

The Forward's Redemption and Influence

The home side showed great fight throughout, but the better chances consistently came to the visitors. The winger should have broken the deadlock when he went past keeper Dillon Phillips before inexplicably shooting over. Delap then had a similar nightmare moment in front of goal against his former club.

He deflected a the goalkeeper's kick which came off the crossbar, and he began to celebrate thinking the ball had crossed the line. It hadn’t, and by the time he realised, Hull's defenders had reacted to avert the threat.

Delap had his head in his hands after that miss, but he was immensely influential from that point onward, registering three assists. The first was for the opening goal as his pass set up Neto to finish from range. Shortly after the restart, it was two as Neto's set-piece went straight in through Phillips's legs.

Tie Put Beyond Doubt and Focus Shifts

Seven minutes after Neto’s second, the match was effectively ended as a magnificent dribble from the forward teed up his teammate to slide into an unguarded goal. The hat-trick hero then completed his treble as the provider once again played the crucial pass for the attacker to coolly slot past a helpless Phillips.

By that stage, the work Hull had done in the first half-hour had been forgotten. Their focus must now return to securing a promotion to the top division under Sergej Jakirovic, who left out several key individuals with that aim in mind.

"In my opinion we earned at least one goal but if we perform like this we will be in a very good position in the Championship," he said. "Keep fighting, maybe in the next games this can be a positive lesson of how we should play."

There was great effort to the final whistle, and they almost claimed a late goal when Lewis Koumas hit a the upright in injury time. But this was the Blues' night, and another encouraging step forward for their recently-appointed manager at a place he knows intimately.

Cup Omens Look Good

That made for an in the end straightforward evening’s work, and the cup competition omens are good from here for the winners. They have played Hull on three previous times in this tournament in the last decade and on each occasion, they have progressed to reach the showpiece. Much still work in that regard, but this was another significant positive for the Chelsea boss.