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Against a backdrop of freezing rain, snow, and a swirling breeze off the banks of the Humber, combined with a resolute home side fighting for promotion, this had all the makings of a difficult evening’s task for the visitors.

"We could have scored more but Hull are a good team and it was a difficult tie; I’m delighted with the performance," he said. "This club means a lot to me so it was nice to get a good reception from both sets of fans. The attitude of the players was superb."

The Chelsea manager has this city dear to him, considering part of his family are from Hull and his successful period in management of the Championship club. His happy connection was extended with a commanding display from his squad, who in the end sauntered into the next round of the famous old competition.

Clinical Finishing Secures Comfortable Win

Three days after surrendering a 2-0 lead in the Premier League, there was a sniff of fragility about Chelsea going into this intriguing tie. The packed Hull crowd clearly sensed it too, but Rosenior's men handled the challenge perfectly.

The manager made alterations, enacting multiple of them to his starting lineup. The match could and perhaps ought to have been decided earlier than it eventually was, with both the Brazilian winger and Liam Delap guilty of spurning glorious chances to put Chelsea in front in the opening period.

However, fortunately for the away team, Pedro Neto was in a much more clinical frame of mind. He broke the scoring with a spectacular distance strike, which acted as the catalyst for his team to assume control of the match. By the final whistle, they had 4 goals, with the forward scoring three of them for a superb hat-trick.

Delap's Redemption and Impact

The home side showed plenty of fight throughout, but the better chances always came to the visitors. Estêvão ought to have broken the scoring when he went past goalkeeper Dillon Phillips before inexplicably firing over. The striker then had a comparable nightmare moment in front of goal against his former club.

He deflected a the goalkeeper's clearance which came off the crossbar, and he began to run away believing the ball had crossed the line. It had not, and by the time he understood, Hull's defenders had responded to clear the danger.

Delap had his head in his hands after that miss, but he was hugely influential from there on out, providing three key passes. The first was for the opening goal as his through ball teed up Neto to finish from range. Six minutes after the second half began, it was two as Neto's corner went straight in under the keeper's legs.

Contest Put Beyond Doubt and Attention Shifts

Seven minutes after the second goal, the match was effectively ended as a dazzling dribble from Delap teed up Estêvão to slide into an empty net. Neto then completed his treble as the provider once again delivered the crucial pass for the attacker to calmly convert by a stranded Phillips.

By that stage, the work Hull had done in the first half-hour had long since erased. Their priority must now return to securing a return to the top division under Sergej Jakirovic, who left out several first-choice players with that aim in mind.

"I think we earned at least one goal but if we perform like this we will be in a very good position in the Championship," the Hull manager commented. "Keep fighting, maybe in the upcoming matches this can be a good lesson of how we must play."

Hull showed plenty of effort to the end, and they almost claimed a consolation when Lewis Koumas hit a the upright in stoppage time. But this was the Blues' night, and another encouraging stride for their recently-appointed manager at a place he is familiar with intimately.

FA Cup Omens Are Promising

The result resulted in an ultimately straightforward night's work, and the cup competition omens are good from here for Chelsea. They have faced Hull on three previous times in this tournament in the past ten years and every single time, they have progressed to make the showpiece. There is remains to be work in that respect, but this was another huge positive for Rosenior.