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Amid sleet, flurries, and a swirling wind from the waters of the Humber Estuary, combined with a resolute Hull City side pushing hard for promotion, this presented all the makings of a challenging evening’s task for Chelsea.

"We could have scored more but the opposition are a strong 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 positive welcome from the fans of fans. The attitude of the lads was excellent."

The Chelsea manager holds this place dear to him, considering some of his family hail from Hull and his successful period in management of the Championship club. This positive connection continued with a commanding display from his squad, who in the end sauntered into the next round of the FA Cup.

Clinical Finishing Secures Comfortable Win

Three days after surrendering a two-goal advantage in the Premier League, there was a hint of vulnerability about Chelsea going into this potentially tricky tie. The packed Hull support clearly felt it too, but Rosenior's men handled the task perfectly.

The manager made alterations, making multiple of them to his starting lineup. The tie could and maybe should have been settled earlier than it actually was, with both the Brazilian winger and Liam Delap at fault for missing excellent opportunities to put their side in front in the opening period.

But, fortunately for the visitors, Pedro Neto was in a far more ruthless mood. He broke the scoring with a spectacular long-range effort, which proved to be the catalyst for Chelsea to take command of proceedings. By the final whistle, they had four, with the forward scoring three of them for a brilliant three-goal haul.

Delap's Redemption and Impact

Hull showed plenty of spirit throughout, but the clearer opportunities always fell Chelsea’s way. Estêvão should have opened the scoring when he rounded keeper Dillon Phillips before inexplicably firing over. Delap then had a similar nightmare moment in front of goal against his old team.

He blocked a Phillips's kick which came off the bar, and Delap started to celebrate believing the ball had crossed the line. It had not, and by the time he understood, 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 there on out, registering 3 assists. The opening was for the first goal as his pass set up Neto to score from range. Shortly after the restart, it was two as the forward's corner went straight in through the keeper's legs.

Tie Put Beyond Doubt and Attention Shifts

Soon after Neto’s second goal, the tie was put beyond doubt as a dazzling dribble from Delap laid on Estêvão to tap into an empty net. The hat-trick hero then completed his treble as the provider again delivered the decisive pass for the striker to calmly slot past a stranded goalkeeper.

At that point, the work Hull had done in the first thirty minutes had been forgotten. Their focus must now return to achieving a promotion to the top division under their manager, who left out several key players with that goal in mind.

"In my opinion we deserved at least one goal but if we play like this we will be in a strong position 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 plenty of effort to the final whistle, and they almost got a consolation when a substitute struck a the upright in injury time. But this was Chelsea’s evening, and another encouraging step forward for their recently-appointed head coach at a stadium he is familiar with very well.

Cup Omens Are Promising

The result resulted in an ultimately straightforward evening’s performance, and the cup competition omens are positive from here for the winners. They have played Hull on three previous times in this tournament in the past ten years and on each occasion, they have progressed to reach the showpiece. Much still done in that regard, but this was another significant positive for Rosenior.