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Against a backdrop of sleet, flurries, and a swirling breeze off the waters of the Humber, alongside a determined Hull City side fighting for promotion, this had all the ingredients of a challenging evening’s work for the visitors.

"We might have scored more but Hull are a strong team and it was a tough fixture; I am very pleased with the performance," he said. "Hull City means a lot to me so it was nice to get a good welcome from the fans of fans. The application of the lads was excellent."

Liam Rosenior holds this place close to his heart, given part of his relatives are from Hull and his enjoyable period in management of the Championship club. His positive connection was extended with a commanding display from his team, who ultimately strolled into the next round of the FA Cup.

Deadly Edge Secures Comprehensive Victory

Three days removed from letting slip a two-goal lead in the league, there was a sniff of fragility about them going into this potentially tricky tie. The packed home support evidently sensed it too, but the London side navigated the challenge with ease.

Rosenior made alterations, making seven of them to his starting lineup. The tie might and perhaps should have been settled long before it actually was, with both the Brazilian winger and Liam Delap at fault for spurning excellent chances to put Chelsea ahead in the first half.

However, fortunately for the away team, Pedro Neto was in a far more ruthless mood. He opened the scoring with a spectacular distance effort, which proved to be the spark for Chelsea to take control of proceedings. By full time, they had 4 goals, with Neto scoring three of them for a brilliant hat-trick.

Delap's Response and Influence

The home side displayed plenty of spirit all game, but the clearer opportunities always fell to the visitors. Estêvão ought to have opened the deadlock when he went past goalkeeper Dillon Phillips before inexplicably firing over. Delap then had a comparable nightmare incident in front of goal against his former club.

He deflected a the goalkeeper's kick which bounced off the bar, and Delap began to run away thinking the ball had crossed the line. It hadn’t, and by the time he realised, Hull's backline had reacted to avert the threat.

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

Tie Put Beyond Doubt and Focus Shifts

Seven minutes after Neto’s second goal, the match was effectively ended as a dazzling run from the forward teed up his teammate to tap into an empty net. The hat-trick hero then finished his hat-trick as the provider once again delivered the crucial pass for the attacker to coolly slot by a stranded goalkeeper.

By that stage, the work Hull had put in in the opening thirty minutes had long since erased. Their priority must now switch back to achieving a return to the Premier League under Sergej Jakirovic, who left out several key individuals with that goal in mind.

"I think we earned at least one goal but if we perform like this we will be in a very good situation in the league," the Hull manager commented. "Never surrender, maybe in the next matches this can be a positive example of how we should play."

Hull showed great effort to the final whistle, and they nearly claimed a late goal when Lewis Koumas hit a post in injury time. But this was the Blues' evening, and another encouraging step forward for their new manager at a place he knows intimately.

FA Cup History Look Promising

That resulted in an in the end routine evening’s performance, and the cup competition omens are good from here for the winners. They have played Hull on three other occasions in this competition in the last decade and on each occasion, they have progressed to make the final. Much still done in that respect, but this was another huge tick for the Chelsea boss.