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Amid freezing rain, snow, and a swirling breeze from the waters of the Humber, alongside a resolute home side fighting for promotion, this had all the ingredients of a challenging night's task for Chelsea.

"We could have added to our tally but Hull are a good team and it was a tough fixture; I am very pleased with the display," the manager stated. "This club means a lot to me so it was great to get a good reception from both sets of supporters. The application of the players was excellent."

Liam Chelsea manager holds this city dear to him, given part of his family hail from Hull and his enjoyable spell in charge of the Tigers. This happy connection was extended with a commanding performance from his squad, who in the end sauntered into the next round of the FA Cup.

Clinical Edge Seals Comfortable Victory

Three days removed from surrendering a 2-0 lead in the league, there was a hint of fragility about Chelsea going into this potentially tricky tie. The packed home support evidently felt it too, but Rosenior's men navigated the challenge with ease.

The manager made alterations, making seven of them to his starting lineup. The match could and maybe ought to have been decided earlier than it actually was, with both the Brazilian winger and the forward guilty of spurning excellent chances to put Chelsea ahead in the first half.

But, luckily for the away team, their Portuguese attacker was in a far more ruthless mood. He opened the scoring with a marvellous distance effort, which acted as the catalyst for his team to assume control of proceedings. By the final whistle, they had 4 goals, with Neto netting three of them for a brilliant hat-trick.

Delap's Response and Influence

The home side showed plenty of spirit throughout, but the better opportunities always came Chelsea’s way. Estêvão ought to have opened the scoring when he went past goalkeeper Dillon Phillips before inexplicably shooting over. The striker then had a comparable nightmare moment in front of goal against his former club.

He deflected a Phillips's clearance which came off the crossbar, and he began to celebrate thinking the ball had gone over the line. It hadn’t, and by the time he realised, Hull's defenders had responded 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 three key passes. The first was for the opening goal as his through ball teed up his teammate to finish from range. Shortly after the restart, it was two as Neto's set-piece went directly in under the keeper's legs.

Contest Put Beyond Doubt and Focus Shifts

Seven minutes after the second, the tie was put beyond doubt as a dazzling dribble from Delap teed up Estêvão to tap into an unguarded goal. The hat-trick hero then finished his hat-trick as Delap once again delivered the crucial pass for the attacker to calmly convert by a stranded Phillips.

By that stage, the work Hull had put in in the first half-hour had been forgotten. Their focus must now return to securing a promotion to the top division under their manager, who left out several key players with that goal in mind.

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

Hull showed plenty of effort to the end, and they nearly got a late goal when a substitute hit a post in stoppage time. But this was Chelsea’s night, and another encouraging step forward for their recently-appointed head coach at a place he knows very well.

Cup Omens Look Good

That resulted in an in the end routine evening’s work, and the FA Cup-shaped signs are positive from here for Chelsea. They have played Hull on three other times in this competition in the past ten years and on each occasion, they have gone on to make the showpiece. There is still work in that regard, but this was another significant positive for the Chelsea boss.