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Against a backdrop of freezing rain, snow, and a swirling breeze from the banks of the Humber, combined with a resolute home side fighting for a top-flight place, this presented all the ingredients of a challenging night's work for Chelsea.

"We could have scored more but Hull are a good team and it was a tough tie; I am very pleased with the performance," he said. "Hull City means a lot to me so it was nice to get a good reception from the fans of fans. The application of the players was superb."

Liam Chelsea manager holds this place close to his heart, given some of his family hail from Hull and his successful period in management of the Championship club. This positive association continued with a magnificent display from his team, who in the end strolled into the next round of the FA Cup.

Deadly Finishing Secures Comfortable Win

Seventy-two hours after surrendering a two-goal lead in the league, there was a sniff of fragility about them going into this potentially tricky cup clash. The capacity Hull crowd evidently sensed it too, but Rosenior's men handled the challenge perfectly.

The manager made alterations, making seven of them to his starting lineup. The tie could and maybe should have been settled earlier than it actually was, with two the Brazilian winger and the forward guilty of missing glorious opportunities to put Chelsea in front in the opening period.

But, fortunately for the visitors, Pedro Neto was in a far more ruthless mood. He opened the scoring with a spectacular long-range effort, which acted as the spark for Chelsea to assume command of proceedings. By full time, they had 4 goals, with Neto scoring three of them for a superb three-goal haul.

Delap's Response and Influence

The home side displayed plenty of spirit all game, but the clearer opportunities always came to the visitors. Estêvão ought to have opened the deadlock when he went past keeper Dillon Phillips before unbelievably shooting over. Delap then had a comparable nightmare moment in front of goal against his former club.

He blocked a Phillips's kick which came off the bar, and Delap began to run away believing the ball had crossed the line. It hadn’t, and by the time he understood, Hull's defenders had responded to avert the threat.

The player had his head in his hands after that miss, but he was hugely influential from that point onward, registering three key passes. The opening was for the first goal as his pass set up his teammate to finish from range. Six minutes after the second half began, it was two as Neto's corner went directly in under the keeper's legs.

Contest Sealed and Focus Turns

Soon after the second goal, the match was put beyond doubt as a magnificent dribble from the forward laid on Estêvão to tap into an unguarded goal. The hat-trick hero then finished his hat-trick as the provider again delivered the crucial ball for the striker to coolly slot past a helpless goalkeeper.

At that point, the work Hull had put in in the opening half-hour had been forgotten. Their priority must now switch back to achieving a return to the top division under Sergej Jakirovic, who rested several first-choice players 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 situation in the league," he said. "Keep fighting, maybe in the upcoming games this can be a good lesson of how we should play."

There was plenty of effort to the end, and they nearly got a consolation when a substitute hit a post in stoppage time. But this was Chelsea’s night, and another positive step forward for their new head coach at a stadium he is familiar with very well.

FA Cup History Are Good

The result resulted in an ultimately straightforward night's work, and the FA Cup-shaped signs are good from here for the winners. They have played Hull on three previous occasions in this competition in the last decade and on each occasion, they have gone on to reach the showpiece. There is remains to be done in that respect, but this was another significant tick for Rosenior.