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Against a backdrop of sleet, snow, and a swirling breeze from the waters of the Humber Estuary, combined with a resolute Hull City side fighting for promotion, this had all the ingredients of a difficult night's task for Chelsea.

"We might have scored more but Hull are a strong team and it was a difficult fixture; I am delighted with the display," the manager stated. "Hull City is very special to me so it was nice to get a good reception from both sets of fans. The attitude of the players was excellent."

Liam Rosenior holds this place dear to him, considering part of his relatives are from Hull and his enjoyable period in charge of the Tigers. This happy association was extended with a commanding display from his squad, who in the end sauntered into the next round of the FA Cup.

Deadly Finishing Secures Comprehensive Win

Three days removed from surrendering a two-goal advantage in the Premier League, there was a hint of vulnerability about Chelsea going into this intriguing tie. The capacity Hull support clearly felt it too, but Rosenior's men navigated the task perfectly.

The manager rang the changes, enacting seven of them to his XI. The match might and maybe ought to have been settled long before it actually was, with both the Brazilian winger and Liam Delap at fault for 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 frame of mind. He broke the deadlock with a marvellous long-range strike, which proved to be the spark for his team to assume control of proceedings. By the final whistle, they had 4 goals, with Neto netting a trio of them for a superb hat-trick.

Delap's Response and Influence

Hull showed plenty of fight all game, but the better opportunities always fell to the visitors. The winger ought to have opened the deadlock when he rounded keeper Dillon Phillips before inexplicably firing over. Delap then had a comparable nightmare incident in front of goal against his former club.

He blocked a Phillips's kick which came off the crossbar, and Delap began to celebrate believing the ball had crossed the line. It had not, and by the time he understood, Hull's defenders had reacted to avert the danger.

Delap had his head in his hands after that moment, but he was hugely influential from that point onward, providing three assists. The first was for the first goal as his through ball teed up his teammate to score from outside the box. Shortly after the restart, it was two as Neto's set-piece went directly in through Phillips's legs.

Tie Put Beyond Doubt and Focus Turns

Seven minutes after the second, the tie was effectively ended as a magnificent dribble from Delap teed up his teammate to slide into an unguarded goal. The hat-trick hero then completed his treble as Delap once again delivered the decisive ball for the striker to calmly slot by a stranded Phillips.

At that point, the effort Hull had put in in the first half-hour had long since forgotten. Their priority must now switch back to achieving a promotion to the top division under Sergej Jakirovic, who left out a number of first-choice individuals 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 league," the Hull manager commented. "Keep fighting, maybe in the next matches this can be a good lesson of how we should play."

Hull showed plenty of effort to the final whistle, and they nearly got a consolation when a substitute struck a post in stoppage time. But this was Chelsea’s evening, and another encouraging stride for their recently-appointed head coach at a place he knows intimately.

Cup Omens Look Good

That made for an in the end routine night's work, and the FA Cup-shaped signs are good from here for the winners. 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. Much remains to be work in that regard, but this was another significant tick for Rosenior.