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Against a backdrop of sleet, flurries, and a swirling wind off the waters of the Humber, combined with a determined Hull City side pushing hard for a top-flight place, this had all the makings of a challenging evening’s task for Chelsea.

"We might have added to our tally but Hull are a good team and it was a tough tie; I’m very pleased with the performance," the manager stated. "This club means a lot to me so it was nice to get a positive reception from both sets of fans. The application of the players was excellent."

The Chelsea manager holds this city dear to him, given part of his relatives are from Hull and his successful period in charge of the Tigers. His happy association was extended with a magnificent performance from his squad, who ultimately sauntered into the next round of the FA Cup.

Deadly Finishing Secures Comprehensive Victory

Seventy-two hours after letting slip a 2-0 lead in the league, there was a sniff of fragility about them going into this intriguing cup clash. The packed Hull crowd evidently felt it too, but Rosenior's men navigated the task with ease.

The manager made alterations, making seven of them to his starting lineup. The tie might and perhaps ought to have been decided long before it actually was, with two Estêvão Willian and the forward guilty of missing excellent opportunities to put Chelsea in front in the opening period.

But, luckily for the away team, their Portuguese attacker was in a far more clinical frame of mind. He opened the scoring with a marvellous distance effort, which acted as the spark for his team to assume command of proceedings. By full time, they had 4 goals, with Neto netting three of them for a brilliant hat-trick.

The Forward's Redemption and Impact

The home side showed plenty of fight all game, but the better opportunities consistently came to the visitors. Estêvão should have broken the deadlock when he rounded keeper the Hull stopper before inexplicably firing over. The striker then had a comparable nightmare moment in front of goal against his former club.

He deflected a the goalkeeper's clearance which bounced off the bar, and Delap began to celebrate thinking the ball had gone over the line. It hadn’t, and by the time he realised, Hull's defenders had reacted to avert the threat.

Delap had his head in his hands after that miss, but he was immensely influential from there on out, providing three assists. The first was for the opening goal as his pass set up Neto to finish from outside the box. Shortly after the restart, it was two as Neto's corner went directly in under Phillips's legs.

Tie Put Beyond Doubt and Focus Turns

Seven minutes after Neto’s second, the match was effectively ended as a magnificent dribble from Delap laid on Estêvão to slide into an empty net. The hat-trick hero then finished his treble as Delap once again delivered the crucial pass for the striker to coolly convert by a helpless Phillips.

By that stage, the effort Hull had put in in the opening half-hour had long since forgotten. Their priority must now return to achieving a return to the top division under Sergej Jakirovic, who rested a number of key individuals with that goal in mind.

"In my opinion we earned at least one goal but if we play like this we will be in a strong position in the league," he said. "Never surrender, maybe in the next games this can be a positive example of how we must play."

There was plenty of effort to the final whistle, and they nearly got a consolation when a substitute hit a post in stoppage time. But this was the Blues' night, and another positive stride for their new head coach at a stadium he knows very well.

Cup History Are Promising

The result made for an in the end routine night's work, and the FA Cup-shaped omens are positive from here for the winners. They have played Hull on three previous times in this tournament in the past ten years and on each occasion, they have gone on to reach the final. There is remains to be done in that respect, but this was another huge positive for Rosenior.