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Amid sleet, snow, and a biting breeze from the banks of the Humber, combined with a determined home side fighting for promotion, this presented all the makings of a difficult evening’s work for Chelsea.

"We might have added to our tally but Hull are a good team and it was a difficult fixture; I am delighted with the display," he said. "This club means a lot to me so it was great to get a good reception from both sets of fans. The attitude of the lads was excellent."

Liam Chelsea manager has this city close to his heart, considering part 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 strolled into the next round of the FA Cup.

Clinical Finishing Seals Comprehensive Victory

Three days after letting slip 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 crowd evidently sensed it too, but Rosenior's men navigated the challenge perfectly.

The manager made alterations, enacting multiple of them to his starting lineup. The match could and maybe should have been settled long before it actually was, with both Estêvão Willian and the forward at fault for spurning excellent opportunities to put their side in front in the opening period.

But, luckily for the away team, Pedro Neto was in a far more ruthless frame of mind. He broke the scoring with a marvellous distance effort, which proved to be the catalyst for his team to assume command of proceedings. By full time, they had four, with Neto scoring a trio of them for a superb hat-trick.

The Forward's Redemption and Impact

Hull showed great fight all game, but the clearer chances always fell Chelsea’s way. The winger should have opened the deadlock when he rounded keeper the Hull stopper before unbelievably firing over. Delap then had a similar nightmare incident in front of goal against his former club.

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

Delap had his head in his hands after that moment, but he was immensely instrumental from that point onward, providing three key passes. The opening was for the first goal as his pass teed up his teammate to finish from range. Shortly after the second half began, it was 2-0 as Neto's corner went directly in through the keeper's legs.

Tie Sealed and Focus Shifts

Seven minutes after the second, 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 treble as Delap once again delivered the crucial ball for the attacker to coolly slot by a helpless goalkeeper.

At that point, the work Hull had put in in the first thirty minutes had long since erased. Their focus must now switch back to achieving a promotion to the Premier League under Sergej Jakirovic, who rested several first-choice players with that aim in mind.

"In my opinion we deserved at least one goal but if we perform like this we will be in a strong situation in the Championship," the Hull manager commented. "Never surrender, maybe in the upcoming matches this can be a good example of how we should play."

Hull showed plenty of effort to the end, and they almost claimed a late goal when Lewis Koumas struck a the upright in stoppage time. But this was the Blues' night, and another encouraging stride for their recently-appointed head coach at a place he is familiar with very well.

Cup Omens Are Good

The result made for an in the end straightforward night's performance, and the FA Cup-shaped omens are good from here for Chelsea. 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 final. Much remains to be work in that regard, but this was another significant tick for Rosenior.