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Amid freezing rain, flurries, and a biting wind from the waters of the Humber Estuary, alongside a resolute Hull City side fighting for a top-flight place, this presented all the ingredients of a difficult night's task for the visitors.

"We could have scored more but Hull are a good team and it was a tough fixture; I’m very pleased with the display," he said. "Hull City means a lot to me so it was nice to get a good reception from both sets of supporters. The application of the lads was superb."

Liam Rosenior holds this city close to his heart, given part of his relatives hail from Hull and his successful period in charge of the Championship club. His positive connection continued with a commanding performance from his squad, who in the end strolled into the fifth round of the FA Cup.

Clinical Finishing Secures Comfortable Victory

Three days after surrendering a 2-0 lead in the league, there was a hint of vulnerability about Chelsea going into this potentially tricky cup clash. The capacity home support evidently sensed it too, but the London side handled the task perfectly.

The manager made alterations, enacting seven of them to his starting lineup. The tie could and perhaps ought to have been settled long before it eventually was, with two Estêvão Willian and Liam Delap guilty of missing glorious chances to put their side ahead in the first half.

However, fortunately for the visitors, their Portuguese attacker was in a far more clinical frame of mind. He broke the scoring with a spectacular long-range effort, which acted as the spark for his team to take control of the match. By full time, they had four, with the forward netting a trio of them for a superb hat-trick.

The Forward's Redemption and Influence

Hull showed great fight throughout, but the better chances consistently came to the visitors. The winger ought to have broken the deadlock when he went past goalkeeper the Hull stopper before inexplicably shooting over. The striker then had a similar nightmare moment in front of goal against his old team.

He deflected a Phillips's kick which bounced off the crossbar, and Delap began to run away believing the ball had crossed the line. It hadn’t, and by the time he understood, Hull's backline had responded to clear the danger.

Delap had his head in his hands after that moment, but he was hugely instrumental from there on out, registering three key passes. The opening was for the first goal as his pass set up his teammate to score from range. Shortly after the second half began, it was 2-0 as the forward's corner went directly in through Phillips's legs.

Tie Sealed and Focus Shifts

Soon after the second goal, the match was put beyond doubt as a dazzling dribble from the forward laid on his teammate to tap into an empty net. The hat-trick hero then completed his hat-trick as Delap again delivered the decisive pass for the striker to calmly convert past a stranded Phillips.

By that stage, the effort Hull had put in in the first half-hour had been erased. Their priority must now switch back to achieving a return to the Premier League under Sergej Jakirovic, who rested several key players with that aim in mind.

"I think we deserved at least one goal but if we play like this we will be in a strong position in the Championship," the Hull manager commented. "Keep fighting, maybe in the next matches this can be a good lesson of how we should play."

There was plenty of endeavour to the end, and they almost claimed a late goal when Lewis Koumas struck a post in stoppage time. But this was Chelsea’s evening, and another positive step forward for their new head coach at a place he is familiar with very well.

FA Cup Omens Look Good

That made for an in the end routine night's performance, and the FA Cup-shaped omens are positive from here for the winners. They have played Hull on three other occasions in this tournament in the past ten years and every single time, they have gone on to reach the showpiece. Much still done in that respect, but this was another significant positive for Rosenior.