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Amid sleet, flurries, and a swirling breeze from the banks of the Humber Estuary, combined with a resolute home side fighting for promotion, this had all the ingredients of a challenging night's task for the visitors.

"We might have scored more but the opposition are a good team and it was a tough tie; I am very pleased with the display," the manager stated. "This club is very special to me so it was nice to get a positive welcome from the fans of fans. The attitude of the players was excellent."

The Rosenior has this place close to his heart, considering some of his relatives are from Hull and his successful period in charge of the Tigers. This happy connection continued with a magnificent display from his team, who ultimately sauntered into the next round of the famous old competition.

Clinical Finishing Seals Comfortable Win

Seventy-two hours removed from letting slip a two-goal lead in the Premier League, there was a hint of fragility about Chelsea going into this intriguing tie. The packed Hull crowd evidently felt it too, but the London side navigated the task perfectly.

Rosenior made alterations, enacting seven of them to his XI. The tie could and perhaps ought to have been settled long before it actually was, with two Estêvão Willian and the forward guilty of spurning excellent opportunities to put Chelsea in front in the first half.

But, luckily for the away team, Pedro Neto was in a much more ruthless frame of mind. He opened the scoring with a spectacular long-range effort, which proved to be the catalyst for Chelsea to assume command of the match. By full time, they had 4 goals, with Neto scoring a trio of them for a brilliant hat-trick.

The Forward's Redemption and Impact

Hull displayed plenty of spirit all game, but the better opportunities always fell to the visitors. The winger should have broken the scoring when he rounded keeper the Hull stopper before inexplicably firing over. The striker then had a similar horror moment in front of goal against his old team.

He deflected a Phillips's clearance which came back from the crossbar, and Delap started to celebrate believing the ball had crossed the line. It hadn’t, and by the time he realised, Hull's backline had responded to avert the danger.

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

Tie Sealed and Focus Turns

Seven minutes after the second, the match was effectively ended as a magnificent run from Delap laid on his teammate to tap into an unguarded goal. The hat-trick hero then completed his treble as Delap once again delivered the crucial pass for the striker to coolly convert past a helpless goalkeeper.

By that stage, the work Hull had put in in the opening half-hour had long since forgotten. Their focus must now return to achieving a promotion to the Premier League under their manager, who left out a number of 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 situation in the Championship," he said. "Never surrender, maybe in the next matches this can be a positive example of how we must play."

Hull showed great effort to the end, and they nearly got a consolation when a substitute struck a post in injury time. But this was Chelsea’s night, and another encouraging stride for their new manager at a place he is familiar with intimately.

FA Cup Omens Look Good

The result made for an ultimately straightforward evening’s performance, and the FA Cup-shaped omens are positive from here for the winners. They have faced Hull on three other occasions in this competition in the past ten years and on each occasion, they have progressed to reach the final. There is remains to be done in that regard, but this was another huge positive for the Chelsea boss.