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Against a backdrop of sleet, snow, and a swirling wind off the waters of the Humber, combined with a determined home side fighting for promotion, this presented all the makings of a challenging night's task for the visitors.

"We might have scored more but the opposition are a strong team and it was a difficult tie; I’m very pleased with the display," the manager stated. "Hull City is very special to me so it was great to get a good reception from both sets of supporters. The attitude of the players was superb."

The Chelsea manager holds this place dear to him, considering part of his relatives hail from Hull and his enjoyable period in management of the Tigers. This positive connection was extended with a commanding display from his squad, who ultimately sauntered into the next round of the famous old competition.

Clinical Edge Secures Comprehensive Victory

Seventy-two hours removed from surrendering a 2-0 advantage in the Premier League, there was a sniff of fragility about Chelsea going into this intriguing tie. The capacity Hull crowd clearly felt it too, but Rosenior's men navigated the challenge with ease.

The manager made alterations, making multiple of them to his XI. The tie might and maybe ought to have been decided long before it eventually was, with two the Brazilian winger and the forward at fault for missing glorious chances to put Chelsea ahead in the opening period.

But, fortunately for the visitors, their Portuguese attacker was in a far more clinical mood. He broke the deadlock with a spectacular long-range effort, which proved to be the spark for his team to take control of the match. By full time, they had four, with Neto scoring three of them for a superb three-goal haul.

Delap's Response and Impact

Hull displayed great fight all game, but the better chances always fell to the visitors. Estêvão ought to have broken the scoring when he went past goalkeeper Dillon Phillips before inexplicably firing over. Delap then had a comparable horror incident in front of goal against his old team.

He deflected a the goalkeeper's kick which came off the bar, and Delap started to run away thinking the ball had gone over the line. It hadn’t, and by the time he realised, Hull's defenders had reacted to clear the threat.

Delap had his head in his hands after that moment, but he was hugely instrumental from there on out, registering 3 assists. The first was for the first goal as his through ball set up his teammate to score from outside the box. Shortly after the restart, it was two as Neto's set-piece went straight in through Phillips's legs.

Contest Put Beyond Doubt and Attention Shifts

Soon after Neto’s second, the match was put beyond doubt as a magnificent dribble from the forward teed up Estêvão to slide into an unguarded goal. Neto then completed his treble as the provider again delivered the crucial pass for the striker to coolly slot by a helpless Phillips.

At that point, the work Hull had done in the first half-hour had been erased. Their focus must now switch back to securing a promotion to the top division under Sergej Jakirovic, who rested several key players with that aim in mind.

"In my opinion we earned at least one goal but if we play like this we will be in a strong position in the Championship," the Hull manager commented. "Never surrender, maybe in the upcoming matches this can be a good lesson of how we must play."

There was plenty of endeavour to the end, and they almost claimed a consolation when Lewis Koumas hit a the upright in stoppage time. But this was Chelsea’s night, and another positive stride for their recently-appointed manager at a stadium he is familiar with intimately.

FA Cup Omens Are Promising

That resulted in an in the end straightforward evening’s work, and the FA Cup-shaped omens are good from here for the winners. They have faced Hull on three other occasions in this tournament in the last decade and every single time, they have gone on to make the final. Much still done in that respect, but this was another significant positive for the Chelsea boss.