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Amid freezing rain, snow, and a swirling breeze from the banks of the Humber Estuary, combined with a resolute Hull City side fighting for promotion, this presented all the makings of a challenging evening’s work for Chelsea.

"We might have scored more but the opposition are a good team and it was a difficult tie; I’m delighted with the performance," the manager stated. "Hull City is very special to me so it was nice to get a positive welcome from both sets of supporters. The attitude of the lads was superb."

The Chelsea manager holds this city close to his heart, given some of his relatives hail from Hull and his enjoyable period in charge of the Championship club. This happy association was extended with a magnificent display from his squad, who ultimately sauntered into the next round of the FA Cup.

Deadly Edge Seals Comfortable Victory

Three days removed from letting slip a two-goal lead in the Premier League, there was a hint of vulnerability about Chelsea going into this intriguing cup clash. The packed Hull crowd evidently felt it too, but Rosenior's men handled the task with ease.

Rosenior made alterations, enacting seven of them to his XI. The match could and maybe should have been settled long before it actually was, with both the Brazilian winger and the forward guilty of spurning glorious opportunities to put their side ahead in the opening period.

But, fortunately for the away team, Pedro Neto was in a much more clinical frame of mind. He opened the scoring with a spectacular distance effort, which acted as the catalyst for his team to take control of proceedings. By full time, they had 4 goals, with Neto netting a trio of them for a superb three-goal haul.

Delap's Response and Influence

The home side displayed plenty of fight throughout, but the clearer chances always came to the visitors. The winger should have broken the scoring when he rounded keeper Dillon Phillips before unbelievably shooting over. Delap then had a comparable horror incident in front of goal against his former club.

He blocked a Phillips's clearance which came off the bar, and he started to celebrate believing the ball had crossed the line. It had not, and by the time he realised, Hull's backline had responded to avert the danger.

Delap had his head in his hands after that moment, but he was immensely instrumental from that point onward, providing three key passes. The opening was for the first goal as his pass set up his teammate to finish from range. Six minutes after the restart, it was 2-0 as Neto's set-piece went straight in under Phillips's legs.

Contest Put Beyond Doubt and Attention Turns

Seven minutes after the second, the tie was effectively ended as a dazzling run from Delap laid on Estêvão to slide into an empty net. Neto then completed his treble as Delap once again delivered the decisive pass for the attacker to coolly slot by a helpless goalkeeper.

By that stage, the effort Hull had done in the first thirty minutes had been forgotten. Their focus must now return to achieving a return to the Premier League under Sergej Jakirovic, who rested a number of first-choice individuals with that aim in mind.

"I think we earned at least one goal but if we play like this we will be in a strong position in the Championship," the Hull manager commented. "Never surrender, maybe in the next games this can be a positive lesson of how we should play."

There was great endeavour to the final whistle, and they nearly claimed a consolation when Lewis Koumas hit a post in injury time. But this was the Blues' evening, and another encouraging step forward for their recently-appointed manager at a place he is familiar with very well.

Cup History Look Promising

That made for an ultimately routine evening’s performance, and the cup competition omens are positive from here for Chelsea. They have played Hull on three other occasions in this tournament in the past ten years and every single time, they have gone on to make the showpiece. There is remains to be work in that respect, but this was another huge positive for the Chelsea boss.