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Amid sleet, snow, and a swirling wind from the waters of the Humber Estuary, alongside a resolute Hull City side pushing hard for promotion, this presented all the makings of a difficult evening’s work for Chelsea.

"We might have added to our tally but Hull are a strong team and it was a difficult fixture; I’m delighted with the display," he said. "Hull City is very special to me so it was nice to get a good reception from the fans of fans. The application of the lads was excellent."

The Chelsea manager has this place close to his heart, given some of his relatives hail from Hull and his enjoyable spell in charge of the Championship club. This happy connection continued with a magnificent display from his team, who in the end sauntered into the next round of the famous old competition.

Deadly Edge Seals Comprehensive Victory

Seventy-two hours after letting slip a 2-0 advantage in the Premier League, there was a sniff of vulnerability about them going into this intriguing cup clash. The packed Hull crowd clearly sensed it too, but Rosenior's men handled the challenge perfectly.

The manager made alterations, making multiple of them to his starting lineup. The tie might and maybe should have been decided long before it actually was, with two Estêvão Willian and Liam Delap at fault for spurning glorious opportunities to put their side ahead in the first half.

But, luckily for the away team, their Portuguese attacker was in a much more ruthless frame of mind. He opened the deadlock with a spectacular distance effort, which acted as the spark for Chelsea to take command of the match. By full time, they had four, with Neto scoring three of them for a brilliant hat-trick.

Delap's Response and Influence

Hull displayed great fight throughout, but the better opportunities consistently came Chelsea’s way. The winger ought to have opened the deadlock when he went past keeper Dillon Phillips before inexplicably firing over. Delap then had a similar horror incident in front of goal against his old team.

He deflected a the goalkeeper's clearance which bounced back from the crossbar, and he started to run away believing the ball had crossed the line. It had not, and by the time he understood, Hull's defenders had reacted to clear the danger.

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

Contest Put Beyond Doubt and Focus Turns

Soon after Neto’s second goal, the match was put beyond doubt as a magnificent dribble from the forward laid on his teammate to slide into an unguarded goal. The hat-trick hero then finished his treble as the provider once again delivered the decisive pass for the striker to calmly slot by a helpless Phillips.

By that stage, the effort Hull had put in in the opening half-hour had been erased. Their focus must now return to securing a promotion to the Premier League under Sergej Jakirovic, who rested a number of key individuals with that goal in mind.

"In my opinion we deserved at least one goal but if we perform like this we will be in a strong situation in the Championship," the Hull manager commented. "Never surrender, maybe in the next games this can be a good example of how we must play."

Hull showed great endeavour to the end, and they almost got a late goal when a substitute struck a post in injury time. But this was the Blues' night, and another positive step forward for their recently-appointed head coach at a stadium he knows very well.

Cup Omens Look Good

That made for an ultimately routine evening’s performance, and the FA Cup-shaped signs are good from here for the winners. They have faced Hull on three other occasions in this competition in the last decade and every single time, they have gone on to make the showpiece. Much remains to be done in that regard, but this was another significant positive for Rosenior.