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Against a backdrop of freezing rain, flurries, and a biting breeze from the waters of the Humber, alongside a determined Hull City side pushing hard for a top-flight place, this presented all the ingredients of a challenging night's task for the visitors.

"We could have added to our tally but Hull are a good team and it was a difficult tie; I am delighted with the performance," he said. "This club means a lot to me so it was nice to get a good reception from the fans of supporters. The attitude of the players was superb."

Liam Chelsea manager holds this place close to his heart, considering part of his family are from Hull and his successful period in charge of the Championship club. His positive association was extended with a magnificent display from his team, who in the end sauntered into the next round of the famous old competition.

Deadly Finishing Secures Comprehensive Win

Three days removed from surrendering a two-goal lead in the league, there was a sniff of vulnerability about Chelsea going into this potentially tricky tie. The packed home crowd evidently sensed it too, but Rosenior's men handled the challenge with ease.

The manager made alterations, making seven of them to his starting lineup. The tie might and maybe should have been decided earlier than it actually was, with two the Brazilian winger and Liam Delap guilty of spurning glorious chances to put their side in front in the opening period.

But, luckily for the away team, Pedro Neto was in a much more ruthless mood. He opened the scoring with a marvellous distance effort, which proved to be the catalyst for his team to take command of the match. By the final whistle, they had four, with Neto netting a trio of them for a brilliant hat-trick.

Delap's Redemption and Influence

Hull showed great fight all game, but the clearer opportunities always fell Chelsea’s way. Estêvão should have opened the deadlock when he rounded keeper Dillon Phillips before unbelievably firing over. The striker then had a similar horror incident in front of goal against his old team.

He deflected a the goalkeeper's kick which came back from the bar, and Delap started to celebrate thinking the ball had gone over the line. It had not, and by the time he understood, Hull's backline had responded to clear the threat.

Delap had his head in his hands after that moment, but he was hugely instrumental from that point onward, registering 3 key passes. The first was for the first goal as his pass teed up Neto to finish from outside the box. Shortly after the second half began, it was 2-0 as Neto's corner went directly in under the keeper's legs.

Tie Sealed and Focus Turns

Soon after Neto’s second goal, the tie was effectively ended as a dazzling dribble from the forward teed up Estêvão to slide into an empty net. The hat-trick hero then finished his treble as Delap once again played the decisive pass for the striker to coolly slot past a stranded Phillips.

At that point, the effort Hull had done in the first thirty minutes had been forgotten. Their focus must now switch back to achieving a return to the top division under Sergej Jakirovic, who rested several first-choice players with that goal 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 league," the Hull manager commented. "Keep fighting, maybe in the next matches this can be a good lesson of how we must play."

Hull showed great endeavour to the end, and they nearly claimed a late goal when a substitute struck a the upright in injury time. But this was the Blues' evening, and another positive stride for their new head coach at a stadium he is familiar with very well.

Cup History Are Good

The result made for an ultimately straightforward evening’s work, and the FA Cup-shaped signs are positive from here for Chelsea. They have played Hull on three previous occasions in this competition in the past ten years and every single time, they have gone on to reach the showpiece. Much still done in that respect, but this was another huge tick for Rosenior.