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Against a backdrop of freezing rain, snow, and a biting breeze off the banks of the Humber, alongside a resolute Hull City side pushing hard for promotion, this presented all the makings of a difficult night's task for the visitors.

"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. "This club means a lot to me so it was great to get a positive welcome from the fans of fans. The application of the lads was excellent."

Liam Chelsea manager holds this city dear to him, given some of his relatives hail from Hull and his enjoyable period in management of the Championship club. His happy connection continued with a commanding display from his squad, who in the end strolled into the next round of the FA Cup.

Clinical Finishing Seals Comfortable Victory

Three days removed from surrendering a 2-0 lead in the Premier League, there was a hint of fragility about Chelsea going into this potentially tricky tie. The packed Hull crowd clearly sensed it too, but Rosenior's men handled the challenge perfectly.

The manager rang the changes, making seven of them to his XI. The tie might and maybe should have been decided earlier than it eventually was, with two Estêvão Willian and Liam Delap at fault for missing excellent opportunities to put their side ahead in the first half.

But, fortunately for the visitors, Pedro Neto was in a far more ruthless frame of mind. He broke the scoring with a spectacular long-range effort, which proved to be the catalyst for Chelsea to take control of the match. By the final whistle, they had four, with Neto netting a trio of them for a brilliant hat-trick.

Delap's Redemption and Impact

Hull displayed plenty of spirit throughout, but the clearer chances always fell to the visitors. Estêvão should have broken the scoring when he rounded goalkeeper the Hull stopper before unbelievably firing over. The striker then had a similar horror incident in front of goal against his old team.

He blocked a Phillips's clearance which came back from the bar, and he started to celebrate believing the ball had crossed 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 miss, but he was hugely instrumental from there on out, providing 3 assists. The opening was for the first goal as his through ball teed up his teammate to finish from outside the box. Six minutes after the restart, it was 2-0 as the forward's set-piece went directly in under the keeper's legs.

Tie Sealed and Focus Turns

Soon after the second goal, the match was put beyond doubt as a magnificent run from the forward laid on his teammate to slide into an unguarded goal. The hat-trick hero then completed his treble as Delap again delivered the decisive pass for the striker to coolly convert past a helpless Phillips.

By that stage, the work Hull had done in the first half-hour had been forgotten. Their focus must now switch back to achieving a promotion to the Premier League under their manager, who rested a number of key 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 very good position in the league," the Hull manager commented. "Keep fighting, maybe in the upcoming matches this can be a positive example of how we must play."

Hull showed plenty of effort to the final whistle, and they almost got a consolation when Lewis Koumas hit a post in stoppage time. But this was Chelsea’s night, and another encouraging stride for their recently-appointed head coach at a place he knows intimately.

Cup History Are Promising

That made for an ultimately straightforward night's performance, and the cup competition signs are positive from here for the winners. They have faced Hull on three other occasions in this competition in the past ten years and on each occasion, they have gone on to make the showpiece. Much still done in that regard, but this was another huge positive for the Chelsea boss.