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Amid freezing rain, snow, and a swirling wind off the banks of the Humber, combined with a resolute Hull City side fighting for a top-flight place, this presented all the ingredients of a challenging evening’s work for the visitors.

"We could have added to our tally but the opposition are a good team and it was a difficult fixture; I am delighted with the performance," the manager stated. "Hull City is very special to me so it was great to get a good welcome from both sets of fans. The application of the players was excellent."

The Rosenior has this place dear to him, considering part of his family are from Hull and his enjoyable spell in management of the Championship club. This positive connection was extended with a commanding display from his squad, who ultimately sauntered into the next round of the FA Cup.

Deadly Edge Secures Comfortable Win

Three days removed from letting slip a two-goal advantage in the Premier League, there was a hint of fragility about Chelsea going into this potentially tricky cup clash. The packed Hull crowd clearly felt it too, but Rosenior's men handled the challenge perfectly.

Rosenior rang the changes, making seven of them to his XI. The match could and maybe ought to have been decided long before it eventually was, with both Estêvão Willian and the forward guilty of missing glorious chances to put Chelsea in front in the first half.

But, fortunately for the away team, Pedro Neto was in a much more ruthless mood. He opened the deadlock with a marvellous long-range effort, which proved to be the catalyst for Chelsea to assume command of proceedings. By full time, they had 4 goals, with Neto netting three of them for a superb three-goal haul.

The Forward's Response and Impact

Hull showed great spirit all game, but the clearer opportunities always came to the visitors. Estêvão ought to have opened the deadlock when he rounded keeper the Hull stopper before unbelievably shooting over. The striker then had a comparable nightmare incident in front of goal against his former club.

He deflected a the goalkeeper's clearance which came back from the bar, and Delap began to run away believing the ball had gone over the line. It hadn’t, and by the time he realised, Hull's backline had responded to clear the danger.

Delap had his head in his hands after that moment, but he was hugely influential from that point onward, registering three key passes. The first was for the opening goal as his through ball teed up Neto to finish from outside the box. Shortly after the second half began, it was 2-0 as Neto's set-piece went straight in under Phillips's legs.

Contest Sealed and Attention Shifts

Seven minutes after Neto’s second goal, the match was effectively ended as a dazzling run from Delap laid on Estêvão to tap into an unguarded goal. Neto then finished his hat-trick as Delap once again delivered the decisive pass for the striker to calmly slot by a stranded Phillips.

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

"In my opinion we deserved at least one goal but if we play like this we will be in a strong situation in the Championship," the Hull manager commented. "Keep fighting, maybe in the upcoming games this can be a good lesson of how we must play."

Hull showed great endeavour to the final whistle, and they nearly got a late goal when a substitute hit a the upright in stoppage time. But this was Chelsea’s night, and another positive step forward for their recently-appointed head coach at a stadium he knows intimately.

FA Cup History Are Good

The result made for an in the end straightforward night's performance, and the FA Cup-shaped omens are positive from here for Chelsea. They have faced Hull on three other occasions in this tournament in the past ten years and every single time, they have progressed to make the showpiece. Much still done in that respect, but this was another huge positive for the Chelsea boss.