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Amid freezing rain, snow, and a swirling wind off the banks of the Humber, alongside a resolute home side pushing hard for a top-flight place, this presented all the ingredients of a challenging evening’s work for Chelsea.

"We could have scored more but Hull are a good team and it was a tough tie; I am very pleased with the performance," he said. "Hull City is very special to me so it was great to get a positive welcome from both sets of fans. The attitude of the lads was superb."

The Rosenior holds this place dear to him, given some of his family hail from Hull and his enjoyable spell in charge of the Championship club. His positive connection was extended with a commanding performance from his team, who ultimately strolled into the next round of the famous old competition.

Clinical Finishing Seals Comfortable Victory

Seventy-two hours removed from letting slip a 2-0 lead in the league, there was a sniff of vulnerability about them going into this potentially tricky cup clash. The packed Hull crowd evidently felt it too, but Rosenior's men navigated the task perfectly.

The manager made alterations, making multiple of them to his XI. The tie might and maybe ought to have been settled long before it eventually was, with both Estêvão Willian and the forward guilty of spurning excellent opportunities to put Chelsea in front in the first half.

However, fortunately for the visitors, Pedro Neto was in a much more ruthless frame of mind. He broke the deadlock with a marvellous distance strike, which proved to be the catalyst for Chelsea to take control of proceedings. By full time, they had 4 goals, with Neto netting a trio of them for a superb hat-trick.

Delap's Redemption and Impact

The home side showed plenty of spirit all game, but the clearer opportunities consistently came Chelsea’s way. Estêvão should have broken the deadlock when he went past goalkeeper the Hull stopper before inexplicably firing over. Delap then had a similar horror moment in front of goal against his old team.

He blocked a Phillips's kick 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 understood, Hull's defenders had reacted to clear the danger.

Delap had his head in his hands after that moment, but he was immensely instrumental from that point onward, providing 3 key passes. The opening was for the opening goal as his pass set up his teammate to score from range. Shortly after the restart, it was 2-0 as the forward's set-piece went straight in under Phillips's legs.

Tie Put Beyond Doubt and Attention Turns

Seven minutes after Neto’s second goal, the match was put beyond doubt as a dazzling dribble from Delap laid on his teammate to tap into an empty net. Neto then completed his treble as the provider again delivered the crucial pass for the striker to calmly slot past a helpless goalkeeper.

By that stage, the work Hull had put in in the first half-hour had been erased. 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.

"In my opinion we earned at least one goal but if we perform like this we will be in a strong position in the Championship," the Hull manager commented. "Never surrender, maybe in the upcoming games this can be a positive example of how we should play."

Hull showed plenty of endeavour to the end, and they almost got a late goal when Lewis Koumas hit a post in stoppage time. But this was the Blues' night, and another encouraging stride for their new head coach at a place he is familiar with intimately.

Cup Omens Look Promising

That made for an ultimately routine evening’s work, and the FA Cup-shaped signs are positive from here for Chelsea. They have played Hull on three previous occasions in this tournament in the last decade and on each occasion, they have gone on to make the final. There is still done in that regard, but this was another significant positive for the Chelsea boss.