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Against a backdrop of sleet, snow, and a biting breeze from the banks of the Humber Estuary, alongside a determined Hull City side pushing hard for promotion, this had all the ingredients of a difficult evening’s task for Chelsea.

"We might have added to our tally but Hull are a strong team and it was a difficult fixture; I’m delighted with the performance," he said. "Hull City is very special 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 city dear to him, considering some of his relatives hail from Hull and his successful period in management of the Championship club. His happy association was extended with a magnificent display from his team, who ultimately strolled into the next round of the famous old competition.

Clinical Edge Secures Comfortable Victory

Three days removed from letting slip a 2-0 advantage in the league, there was a sniff of vulnerability about them going into this intriguing cup clash. The packed home support evidently sensed it too, but Rosenior's men handled the challenge perfectly.

Rosenior rang the changes, making seven of them to his XI. The tie could and perhaps ought to have been decided earlier than it actually was, with two the Brazilian winger and the forward guilty of spurning glorious opportunities to put Chelsea ahead in the opening period.

However, fortunately for the visitors, Pedro Neto was in a much more ruthless mood. He broke the deadlock with a spectacular long-range strike, which proved to be the spark for Chelsea to take command of proceedings. By full time, they had four, with the forward scoring a trio of them for a superb hat-trick.

The Forward's Response and Influence

Hull showed plenty of spirit throughout, but the better chances always came Chelsea’s way. The winger should have broken the deadlock when he went past goalkeeper the Hull stopper before unbelievably firing over. Delap then had a similar horror incident in front of goal against his former club.

He blocked a Phillips's kick which came back from the crossbar, and he began 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 danger.

Delap had his head in his hands after that miss, but he was hugely instrumental from there on out, providing three key passes. The first was for the opening goal as his through ball set up Neto to finish from outside the box. Six minutes after the second half began, it was two as the forward's set-piece went directly in under the keeper's legs.

Tie Put Beyond Doubt and Attention Turns

Seven minutes after Neto’s second, the match was effectively ended as a magnificent dribble from Delap laid on his teammate to slide into an unguarded goal. The hat-trick hero then finished his hat-trick as the provider again delivered the decisive ball for the attacker to coolly slot past a helpless Phillips.

By that stage, 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 Premier League under Sergej Jakirovic, who left out several first-choice individuals with that aim in mind.

"I think 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. "Never surrender, maybe in the upcoming matches this can be a positive lesson of how we must play."

Hull showed plenty of endeavour to the final whistle, and they almost claimed a consolation when Lewis Koumas struck a post in stoppage time. But this was the Blues' night, and another positive step forward for their recently-appointed manager at a place he knows very well.

FA Cup Omens Are Promising

The result resulted in an in the end routine evening’s work, and the cup competition signs are positive from here for Chelsea. They have faced Hull on three other times in this competition in the past ten years and on each occasion, they have gone on to make the final. There is still work in that regard, but this was another significant tick for Rosenior.