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Against a backdrop of sleet, flurries, and a biting wind off the banks of the Humber, combined with a resolute home side pushing hard for a top-flight place, this presented all the ingredients of a challenging evening’s work for the visitors.

"We might have scored more but Hull are a good team and it was a tough fixture; 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 the fans of fans. The attitude of the players was superb."

The Chelsea manager has this city close to his heart, given some of his family are from Hull and his successful period in charge of the Tigers. His positive connection was extended with a magnificent performance from his team, who ultimately sauntered into the next round of the famous old competition.

Deadly Edge Secures Comprehensive Win

Three days removed from letting slip a 2-0 lead in the 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 perfectly.

Rosenior made alterations, enacting multiple of them to his starting lineup. The match could and perhaps should have been decided earlier than it actually was, with two the Brazilian winger and the forward guilty of spurning excellent chances to put their side ahead in the opening period.

However, fortunately for the visitors, Pedro Neto was in a far more ruthless frame of mind. He broke the deadlock with a marvellous distance strike, which proved to be the catalyst for his team to assume command of proceedings. By full time, they had 4 goals, with Neto netting a trio of them for a superb hat-trick.

Delap's Response and Influence

The home side showed great fight all game, but the better opportunities always fell Chelsea’s way. Estêvão ought to have broken the scoring when he rounded keeper Dillon Phillips before inexplicably shooting over. Delap then had a comparable nightmare incident in front of goal against his former club.

He deflected a the goalkeeper's clearance which came back from the crossbar, and Delap began to run away believing the ball had gone over the line. It hadn’t, and by the time he understood, Hull's defenders had reacted to avert the threat.

Delap had his head in his hands after that moment, but he was immensely instrumental from there on out, registering 3 key passes. The first was for the opening goal as his pass set up his teammate to finish from outside the box. Six minutes after the restart, it was 2-0 as Neto's corner went directly in under the keeper's legs.

Contest Put Beyond Doubt and Attention Turns

Soon after Neto’s second, the tie was effectively ended as a magnificent run from the forward laid on Estêvão to tap into an unguarded goal. The hat-trick hero then completed his treble as the provider once again played the decisive pass for the striker to calmly convert past a helpless Phillips.

By that stage, the work Hull had done in the first thirty minutes had long since erased. Their priority must now return to achieving a promotion to the Premier League under their manager, who left out several first-choice players with that aim in mind.

"I think we deserved at least one goal but if we perform like this we will be in a strong position in the league," he said. "Never surrender, maybe in the upcoming matches this can be a positive example of how we should play."

There was plenty of effort to the final whistle, and they nearly got a late goal when Lewis Koumas struck a post in injury time. But this was Chelsea’s evening, and another encouraging step forward for their recently-appointed manager at a place he is familiar with very well.

FA Cup History Are Good

That made for an in the end routine evening’s performance, and the FA Cup-shaped omens are positive from here for Chelsea. They have played Hull on three other occasions in this tournament in the last decade and on each occasion, they have progressed to reach the showpiece. Much still done in that respect, but this was another significant tick for Rosenior.