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Against a backdrop of freezing rain, snow, and a biting breeze from the banks of the Humber, combined with a resolute Hull City side fighting for promotion, this presented all the ingredients of a difficult night's task for the visitors.

"We could have added to our tally but Hull are a strong team and it was a tough fixture; I’m very pleased with the performance," the manager stated. "Hull City is very special to me so it was nice to get a good reception from the fans of supporters. The attitude of the lads was excellent."

Liam Chelsea manager holds this city close to his heart, given some of his relatives hail from Hull and his successful spell in charge of the Tigers. This positive connection was extended with a magnificent display from his team, who ultimately strolled into the next round of the FA Cup.

Deadly Finishing Secures Comprehensive Win

Seventy-two hours after surrendering a two-goal lead in the league, there was a sniff of vulnerability about Chelsea going into this potentially tricky cup clash. The packed home support clearly felt it too, but Rosenior's men navigated the task with ease.

The manager rang the changes, enacting multiple of them to his starting lineup. The match might and maybe should have been decided long before it actually was, with both the Brazilian winger and Liam Delap at fault for missing glorious opportunities to put Chelsea in front in the opening period.

But, luckily for the visitors, Pedro Neto was in a much more clinical mood. He opened the deadlock with a spectacular long-range strike, which proved to be the catalyst for Chelsea to take control of the match. By full time, they had 4 goals, with Neto scoring a trio of them for a brilliant hat-trick.

Delap's Response and Influence

The home side displayed great fight throughout, but the better opportunities always fell to the visitors. Estêvão ought to have opened the scoring when he went past keeper Dillon Phillips before inexplicably shooting over. Delap then had a similar horror incident in front of goal against his former club.

He blocked a Phillips's clearance which came off the bar, and he started to run away thinking the ball had crossed the line. It hadn’t, and by the time he understood, Hull's defenders had reacted to avert the danger.

The player had his head in his hands after that miss, but he was hugely instrumental from that point onward, providing three key passes. The opening was for the opening goal as his pass teed up Neto to finish from range. Shortly after the restart, it was 2-0 as Neto's set-piece went straight in through the keeper'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 Delap laid on his teammate to tap into an empty net. Neto then completed his treble as Delap once again delivered the crucial pass for the attacker to calmly convert past a helpless goalkeeper.

By that stage, the effort Hull had done in the opening thirty minutes had long since erased. Their priority must now return to securing a return to the Premier League under their manager, who rested several first-choice players with that aim in mind.

"I think we earned at least one goal but if we play 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 good example of how we must play."

Hull showed plenty of effort to the end, and they almost claimed a late goal when a substitute struck a post in injury time. But this was the Blues' night, and another positive step forward for their new head coach at a stadium he is familiar with very well.

FA Cup Omens Are Good

That resulted in an ultimately straightforward evening’s work, and the cup competition signs are good from here for Chelsea. They have faced Hull on three previous occasions in this competition in the past ten years and on each occasion, they have gone on to make the final. Much still work in that respect, but this was another significant tick for the Chelsea boss.