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Amid freezing rain, flurries, and a biting wind off the waters of the Humber Estuary, alongside a resolute Hull City side fighting for promotion, this presented all the makings of a challenging evening’s work for Chelsea.

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

The Chelsea manager has this city close to his heart, given some of his relatives are from Hull and his enjoyable period in charge of the Championship club. His happy association was extended with a commanding display from his squad, who ultimately sauntered into the next round of the famous old competition.

Clinical Edge Secures Comfortable Win

Three days after surrendering a two-goal advantage in the league, there was a sniff of fragility about Chelsea going into this potentially tricky cup clash. The packed home support evidently felt it too, but Rosenior's men navigated the task with ease.

Rosenior made alterations, making seven of them to his XI. The match could and perhaps should have been decided earlier than it actually was, with two the Brazilian winger and the forward guilty of spurning excellent opportunities to put their side ahead in the opening period.

But, luckily for the visitors, Pedro Neto was in a much more clinical mood. He opened the deadlock with a marvellous long-range effort, which acted as the spark for Chelsea to take command of proceedings. By full time, they had 4 goals, with Neto scoring a trio of them for a brilliant three-goal haul.

Delap's Redemption and Influence

Hull showed plenty of fight throughout, but the better opportunities always fell to the visitors. The winger ought to have opened the scoring when he rounded goalkeeper the Hull stopper before unbelievably shooting over. The striker then had a similar nightmare incident in front of goal against his former club.

He deflected a the goalkeeper's clearance which bounced off the bar, and Delap started to celebrate believing the ball had crossed the line. It had not, and by the time he realised, Hull's backline had responded to avert the danger.

The player had his head in his hands after that moment, but he was immensely influential from that point onward, registering 3 assists. The opening was for the opening goal as his pass teed up his teammate to finish from range. Six minutes after the restart, it was 2-0 as the forward's corner went directly in through Phillips's legs.

Tie Put Beyond Doubt and Attention Turns

Soon after the second, the tie was put beyond doubt as a magnificent run from Delap teed up Estêvão to tap into an unguarded goal. The hat-trick hero then completed his hat-trick as the provider again delivered the decisive ball for the striker to calmly convert past a stranded Phillips.

At that point, the effort Hull had put in in the opening thirty minutes had been erased. Their focus must now return to securing a promotion to the top division under Sergej Jakirovic, who rested a number of first-choice individuals with that aim in mind.

"I think we earned at least one goal but if we play 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 positive example of how we must play."

Hull showed plenty of endeavour to the final whistle, and they nearly got a consolation when a substitute hit a the upright in stoppage time. But this was the Blues' evening, and another encouraging step forward for their new manager at a place he knows very well.

FA Cup History Are Good

That resulted in an in the end straightforward evening’s work, and the cup competition signs are good from here for the winners. They have played Hull on three other occasions in this tournament in the past ten years and every single time, they have progressed to make the showpiece. There is remains to be done in that regard, but this was another significant positive for the Chelsea boss.