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Amid sleet, flurries, and a biting breeze from the banks of the Humber, combined with a resolute Hull City side pushing hard for a top-flight place, this had all the makings of a challenging night's task for the visitors.

"We might have scored more but Hull are a strong team and it was a tough tie; I’m delighted with the performance," the manager stated. "Hull City means a lot to me so it was great to get a positive reception from both sets of fans. The attitude of the players was superb."

The Chelsea manager has this city dear to him, given part of his family hail from Hull and his enjoyable period in charge of the Tigers. This happy association continued with a magnificent performance from his squad, who ultimately sauntered into the next round of the famous old competition.

Clinical Finishing Secures Comprehensive Victory

Seventy-two hours removed from surrendering a 2-0 advantage in the league, there was a hint of vulnerability about Chelsea going into this potentially tricky cup clash. The packed home crowd evidently sensed it too, but Rosenior's men navigated the challenge perfectly.

The manager made alterations, enacting seven of them to his starting lineup. The tie could and perhaps should have been settled earlier than it actually was, with both Estêvão Willian and Liam Delap guilty of spurning excellent opportunities to put their side in front in the opening period.

However, fortunately for the away team, their Portuguese attacker was in a far more ruthless frame of mind. He opened the scoring with a marvellous long-range effort, which proved to be the catalyst for his team to take control of the match. By the final whistle, they had 4 goals, with Neto netting a trio of them for a brilliant three-goal haul.

The Forward's Response and Influence

Hull showed great spirit all game, but the better chances consistently came Chelsea’s way. The winger should have broken the deadlock when he went past goalkeeper the Hull stopper before inexplicably shooting over. The striker then had a comparable horror moment in front of goal against his former club.

He blocked a the goalkeeper's clearance which came back from the crossbar, and Delap began 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.

The player had his head in his hands after that moment, but he was hugely influential from that point onward, registering 3 assists. The opening was for the first goal as his pass teed up Neto to score from range. Shortly after the second half began, it was two as the forward's corner went directly in through the keeper's legs.

Contest Sealed and Focus Shifts

Seven minutes after the second goal, the match was effectively ended as a dazzling run from Delap laid on his teammate to slide into an unguarded goal. The hat-trick hero then completed his hat-trick as the provider once again played the crucial ball for the striker to coolly convert by a helpless Phillips.

At that point, the effort Hull had put in in the opening half-hour had been erased. Their priority must now return to achieving a promotion to the top division under Sergej Jakirovic, who rested a number of key players with that aim in mind.

"In my opinion we deserved at least one goal but if we perform like this we will be in a strong position in the league," the Hull manager commented. "Never surrender, maybe in the upcoming games this can be a good lesson of how we should play."

There was plenty of endeavour to the end, and they nearly claimed a consolation when a substitute hit a the upright in injury time. But this was the Blues' night, and another encouraging stride for their recently-appointed head coach at a place he knows intimately.

FA Cup History Are Good

That made for an ultimately straightforward night's work, and the cup competition omens are good from here for the winners. They have played Hull on three other times in this tournament in the past ten years and every single time, they have progressed to reach the showpiece. Much still done in that respect, but this was another huge positive for the Chelsea boss.