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Against a backdrop of sleet, flurries, and a biting wind from the waters of the Humber Estuary, alongside a determined Hull City side pushing hard for promotion, this had all the makings of a difficult evening’s task for Chelsea.

"We might have added to our tally but the opposition are a good team and it was a tough tie; I’m very pleased with the performance," he said. "This club 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, given some of his family hail from Hull and his enjoyable spell in charge of the Championship club. His happy connection was extended with a magnificent performance from his team, who ultimately strolled into the next round of the FA Cup.

Deadly Edge Secures Comprehensive Win

Seventy-two hours after surrendering a 2-0 lead in the Premier League, there was a sniff of fragility about them going into this potentially tricky cup clash. The packed home crowd clearly sensed it too, but Rosenior's men handled the challenge perfectly.

The manager rang the changes, enacting seven of them to his XI. The tie could and maybe ought to have been decided earlier than it eventually was, with two the Brazilian winger and the forward at fault for missing excellent chances to put their side in front in the opening period.

However, fortunately for the visitors, their Portuguese attacker was in a much more clinical mood. He opened the deadlock with a marvellous distance effort, which acted as the catalyst for Chelsea to take command of the match. By the final whistle, they had 4 goals, with Neto netting a trio of them for a superb three-goal haul.

The Forward's Response and Influence

Hull displayed plenty of spirit all game, but the better chances consistently fell Chelsea’s way. Estêvão ought to have opened the deadlock when he went past keeper the Hull stopper before inexplicably firing over. Delap then had a comparable horror incident in front of goal against his former club.

He deflected a Phillips's kick which bounced off the crossbar, and Delap began to run away believing the ball had gone over the line. It had not, and by the time he understood, Hull's backline had reacted to clear the danger.

Delap had his head in his hands after that miss, but he was hugely influential from there on out, registering 3 assists. The first was for the first goal as his pass set up Neto to finish from range. Six minutes after the restart, it was two as the forward's set-piece went directly in through Phillips's legs.

Tie Put Beyond Doubt and Attention Turns

Seven minutes after the second, the tie was put beyond doubt as a dazzling dribble 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 slot by a helpless goalkeeper.

At that point, the effort Hull had put in in the first thirty minutes had long since erased. Their priority must now switch back to securing a return to the top division under their manager, who left out several first-choice players with that goal in mind.

"I think we earned at least one goal but if we perform like this we will be in a strong situation in the league," the Hull manager commented. "Never surrender, maybe in the next matches this can be a good lesson of how we must play."

Hull showed plenty of effort to the end, and they nearly got a consolation when a substitute struck a the upright in stoppage time. But this was the Blues' evening, and another positive stride for their recently-appointed head coach at a place he knows very well.

Cup Omens Are Good

The result resulted in an in the end straightforward evening’s performance, and the FA Cup-shaped omens 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 respect, but this was another significant positive for Rosenior.