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Against a backdrop of sleet, flurries, and a biting breeze off the waters of the Humber Estuary, combined with a determined Hull City side pushing hard for a top-flight place, this had all the makings of a challenging night's task for Chelsea.

"We could have scored more but Hull are a strong team and it was a difficult tie; I am very pleased with the display," the manager stated. "Hull City is very special to me so it was great to get a positive reception from the fans of supporters. The application of the players was excellent."

The Chelsea manager holds this place close to his heart, given part of his relatives are from Hull and his enjoyable period in management of the Championship club. His positive association continued with a commanding performance from his team, who ultimately strolled into the next round of the FA Cup.

Deadly Edge Secures Comprehensive Victory

Seventy-two hours removed from letting slip a 2-0 advantage in the Premier League, there was a sniff of vulnerability about Chelsea going into this intriguing tie. The capacity Hull crowd clearly felt it too, but Rosenior's men navigated the task with ease.

The manager rang the changes, making multiple of them to his starting lineup. The tie might and perhaps ought to have been settled earlier than it actually was, with two Estêvão Willian and the forward guilty of missing excellent chances to put their side ahead in the first half.

However, fortunately for the away team, their Portuguese attacker was in a far more clinical frame of mind. He broke the scoring with a marvellous distance strike, which proved to be the spark for Chelsea to assume command of proceedings. By the final whistle, they had 4 goals, with the forward netting a trio of them for a brilliant three-goal haul.

The Forward's Redemption and Impact

The home side displayed great fight all game, but the clearer opportunities consistently came to the visitors. The winger ought to have opened the deadlock when he rounded keeper Dillon Phillips before inexplicably shooting over. Delap then had a comparable horror incident in front of goal against his former club.

He deflected a the goalkeeper's kick which bounced back from the crossbar, and Delap began to run away 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 miss, but he was immensely instrumental from that point onward, registering three assists. The opening was for the first goal as his through ball teed up Neto to score from range. Six minutes after the second half began, it was two as Neto's set-piece went directly in through Phillips's legs.

Contest Sealed and Attention Turns

Soon after Neto’s second, the match was put beyond doubt as a dazzling run from Delap laid on his teammate to slide into an unguarded goal. Neto then completed his treble as Delap again played the crucial ball for the attacker to coolly convert by a stranded goalkeeper.

At that point, the work Hull had put in in the opening thirty minutes had long since forgotten. Their priority must now switch back to achieving a promotion to the top division under their manager, who rested 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 strong situation in the Championship," he said. "Keep fighting, maybe in the upcoming games this can be a good example of how we must play."

There was plenty of effort to the final whistle, and they nearly got a consolation when Lewis Koumas hit a the upright in stoppage time. But this was Chelsea’s evening, and another encouraging stride for their recently-appointed manager at a place he is familiar with very well.

FA Cup Omens Are Good

The result made for an in the end straightforward evening’s performance, and the cup competition omens are positive from here for the winners. They have faced Hull on three other occasions in this tournament in the last decade and on each occasion, they have gone on to make the final. Much still done in that regard, but this was another significant positive for Rosenior.