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Amid freezing rain, snow, and a biting breeze off the waters of the Humber Estuary, alongside a resolute Hull City side fighting for promotion, this presented all the ingredients of a difficult evening’s work for the visitors.

"We might have scored more but Hull are a strong team and it was a difficult tie; I am delighted with the performance," the manager stated. "This club means a lot to me so it was nice to get a good welcome from both sets of supporters. The attitude of the lads was excellent."

Liam Chelsea manager has this place close to his heart, given some of his family are from Hull and his successful period in charge of the Tigers. This positive connection continued with a magnificent display from his squad, who ultimately strolled into the next round of the famous old competition.

Clinical Finishing Seals Comprehensive Victory

Three days after letting slip a 2-0 advantage in the Premier League, there was a hint of fragility about Chelsea going into this potentially tricky cup clash. The capacity home support clearly felt it too, but Rosenior's men handled the task with ease.

Rosenior made alterations, making multiple of them to his XI. The match could and perhaps should have been decided earlier than it actually was, with two Estêvão Willian and the forward guilty of spurning excellent chances to put their side ahead in the opening period.

However, luckily for the away team, Pedro Neto was in a much more ruthless mood. He broke the scoring with a spectacular distance strike, which acted as the catalyst for Chelsea to take control of the match. By the final whistle, they had four, with the forward netting a trio of them for a brilliant three-goal haul.

Delap's Response and Influence

Hull displayed plenty of spirit throughout, but the clearer opportunities consistently came Chelsea’s way. Estêvão ought to have opened the scoring when he rounded keeper the Hull stopper before inexplicably firing over. The striker then had a comparable horror incident in front of goal against his old team.

He deflected a the goalkeeper's clearance which bounced off the crossbar, and Delap started to celebrate thinking the ball had crossed the line. It had not, and by the time he understood, Hull's defenders had reacted to clear the threat.

The player had his head in his hands after that miss, but he was hugely instrumental from there on out, providing three key passes. The opening was for the opening goal as his pass teed up Neto to score from range. Shortly after the restart, it was two as the forward's corner went straight in through Phillips's legs.

Contest Put Beyond Doubt and Attention Turns

Soon after Neto’s second goal, the match was effectively ended as a magnificent run from the forward laid on his teammate to tap into an empty net. Neto then finished his treble as the provider again delivered the crucial pass for the attacker to coolly convert past a stranded goalkeeper.

At that point, the effort Hull had put in in the opening thirty minutes had been erased. Their focus must now return to achieving a return to the Premier League under Sergej Jakirovic, who left out several first-choice players with that goal in mind.

"I think we deserved at least one goal but if we play like this we will be in a very good position in the Championship," the Hull manager commented. "Keep fighting, maybe in the next games this can be a positive lesson of how we should play."

Hull showed plenty of endeavour to the final whistle, and they almost claimed a late goal when Lewis Koumas hit a post in stoppage time. But this was the Blues' night, and another positive stride for their recently-appointed head coach at a place he is familiar with intimately.

FA Cup Omens Are Good

The result made for an in the end routine night's performance, and the FA Cup-shaped omens are good from here for Chelsea. They have played Hull on three previous occasions in this competition in the last decade and every single time, they have progressed to make the showpiece. There is still done in that regard, but this was another significant tick for the Chelsea boss.