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Amid freezing rain, snow, and a swirling wind off the waters of the Humber Estuary, combined with a resolute home side pushing hard for a top-flight place, this had all the makings of a difficult night's task for the visitors.

"We could have added to our tally but Hull are a good team and it was a tough fixture; I am delighted with the display," the manager stated. "Hull City means a lot to me so it was great to get a positive reception from both sets of fans. The attitude of the players was excellent."

Liam Chelsea manager holds this city dear to him, given some of his relatives hail from Hull and his successful period in management of the Tigers. This happy connection continued with a commanding display from his squad, who in the end sauntered into the next round of the famous old competition.

Clinical Finishing Seals Comprehensive Victory

Seventy-two hours after surrendering a 2-0 advantage in the Premier League, there was a hint of fragility about Chelsea going into this intriguing tie. The capacity Hull support clearly sensed it too, but Rosenior's men handled the task with ease.

Rosenior made alterations, making multiple of them to his starting lineup. The tie might and maybe ought to have been settled long before it actually was, with both the Brazilian winger and the forward at fault for missing excellent opportunities to put Chelsea in front in the opening period.

But, fortunately for the away team, Pedro Neto was in a far more clinical mood. He broke the deadlock with a spectacular distance effort, which proved to be the catalyst for Chelsea to take command of proceedings. By the final whistle, they had four, with the forward netting three of them for a superb hat-trick.

The Forward's Redemption and Impact

The home side displayed plenty of fight throughout, but the clearer opportunities consistently fell to the visitors. The winger ought to have broken the scoring when he rounded goalkeeper the Hull stopper before inexplicably shooting over. The striker then had a similar horror moment in front of goal against his old team.

He deflected a Phillips's kick which bounced back from the crossbar, and Delap started to run away thinking the ball had gone over the line. It had not, and by the time he realised, Hull's backline had responded to clear the threat.

The player had his head in his hands after that miss, but he was hugely influential from there on out, providing three key passes. The opening was for the first goal as his through ball teed up Neto to finish from range. Six minutes after the restart, it was 2-0 as Neto's corner went directly in under the keeper's legs.

Contest Put Beyond Doubt and Focus Turns

Seven minutes after Neto’s second goal, the match was effectively ended as a dazzling dribble from the forward teed up Estêvão to tap into an unguarded goal. Neto then finished his treble as Delap again delivered the decisive pass for the attacker to calmly convert past a stranded goalkeeper.

At that point, the effort Hull had done in the opening half-hour had been forgotten. Their focus must now switch back to achieving a promotion to the top division under Sergej Jakirovic, who left out a number of first-choice players with that goal in mind.

"I think we earned at least one goal but if we play 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 must play."

There was plenty of effort to the final whistle, and they nearly got a consolation when a substitute hit a the upright in injury time. But this was Chelsea’s night, and another positive step forward for their recently-appointed head coach at a stadium he knows intimately.

FA Cup Omens Look Good

The result made for an in the end straightforward evening’s performance, and the FA Cup-shaped omens are positive from here for Chelsea. They have played Hull on three previous times in this competition in the last decade and every single time, they have gone on to make the final. Much remains to be work in that respect, but this was another huge positive for Rosenior.