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Against a backdrop of freezing rain, flurries, and a biting breeze off the banks of the Humber, combined with a resolute home side fighting for promotion, this had all the ingredients of a challenging night's task for the visitors.

"We could have added to our tally but the opposition are a good team and it was a difficult tie; I am delighted with the performance," the manager stated. "This club is very special to me so it was great to get a good welcome from the fans of fans. The application of the players was superb."

The Rosenior holds this city dear to him, given some of his relatives are from Hull and his successful spell in management of the Tigers. His positive association was extended with a commanding performance from his squad, who in the end sauntered into the next round of the FA Cup.

Deadly Finishing Seals Comfortable Win

Three days after letting slip a two-goal advantage in the Premier League, there was a sniff of fragility about Chelsea going into this potentially tricky tie. The packed home support clearly felt it too, but the London side handled the challenge perfectly.

Rosenior made alterations, enacting seven of them to his XI. The tie might and maybe should have been settled earlier than it eventually was, with two the Brazilian winger and the forward guilty of missing excellent chances 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 opened the deadlock with a spectacular distance strike, which proved to be the catalyst for Chelsea to assume control of proceedings. By full time, they had four, with Neto netting a trio of them for a brilliant hat-trick.

Delap's Redemption and Influence

Hull showed plenty of spirit all game, but the clearer opportunities always fell to the visitors. The winger ought to have broken the scoring when he went past goalkeeper the Hull stopper before inexplicably firing over. The striker then had a comparable nightmare incident in front of goal against his former club.

He deflected a Phillips's clearance which came back from the crossbar, and he started to run away thinking the ball had crossed the line. It hadn’t, and by the time he understood, Hull's defenders had responded to clear the threat.

The player had his head in his hands after that moment, but he was hugely influential from that point onward, providing three key passes. The opening was for the first goal as his through ball teed up Neto to score from range. Six minutes after the second half began, it was two as the forward's corner went straight in through Phillips's legs.

Tie Put Beyond Doubt and Attention Turns

Soon after Neto’s second, the match was effectively ended as a dazzling dribble from the forward teed up his teammate to slide into an empty net. The hat-trick hero then finished his treble as Delap again played the crucial pass for the attacker to calmly slot by a helpless goalkeeper.

By that stage, the effort Hull had done in the first thirty minutes had long since erased. Their priority must now return to securing a promotion to the top division under Sergej Jakirovic, who rested several key individuals with that aim in mind.

"I think we deserved at least one goal but if we play like this we will be in a very good position in the league," he said. "Never surrender, maybe in the next matches this can be a good lesson of how we should play."

Hull showed great effort to the final whistle, and they almost got a consolation when a substitute hit a the upright in injury time. But this was Chelsea’s night, and another positive stride for their new head coach at a stadium he is familiar with intimately.

Cup Omens Are Promising

That resulted in an ultimately straightforward evening’s work, 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 past ten years and on each occasion, they have progressed to reach the showpiece. Much still done in that regard, but this was another huge positive for the Chelsea boss.