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Amid freezing rain, flurries, and a biting breeze from the waters of the Humber Estuary, combined with a resolute home side pushing hard for a top-flight place, this had all the ingredients of a challenging night's task for the visitors.

"We might have added to our tally but the opposition are a strong team and it was a tough fixture; I am delighted with the performance," he said. "This club is very special to me so it was great to get a positive reception from the fans of fans. The application of the lads was excellent."

Liam Chelsea manager has this city dear to him, given some of his family hail from Hull and his successful period in charge of the Championship club. His happy connection was extended with a commanding display from his team, who ultimately strolled into the next round of the FA Cup.

Clinical Edge Seals Comfortable Win

Seventy-two hours after letting slip a two-goal advantage in the Premier League, there was a sniff of vulnerability about Chelsea going into this intriguing cup clash. The capacity Hull crowd evidently felt it too, but Rosenior's men navigated the challenge with ease.

The manager made alterations, enacting seven of them to his starting lineup. The tie could and perhaps ought to have been decided long before it eventually was, with both Estêvão Willian and Liam Delap at fault for spurning glorious chances to put Chelsea ahead in the first half.

However, luckily for the visitors, Pedro Neto was in a much more ruthless mood. He opened the scoring with a spectacular long-range strike, which acted as the spark for his team to assume control of proceedings. By full time, they had 4 goals, with the forward netting three of them for a brilliant three-goal haul.

Delap's Redemption and Impact

The home side displayed plenty of fight throughout, but the better chances always came to the visitors. Estêvão ought to have opened the deadlock when he went past goalkeeper Dillon Phillips before unbelievably firing over. The striker then had a similar nightmare incident in front of goal against his former club.

He blocked a the goalkeeper's clearance which came off the crossbar, and he started to celebrate believing the ball had gone over the line. It hadn’t, and by the time he realised, Hull's backline had reacted to clear the threat.

Delap had his head in his hands after that moment, but he was hugely influential from that point onward, providing 3 key passes. The first was for the first goal as his pass set up Neto to score from outside the box. Six minutes after the restart, it was two as the forward's set-piece went directly in through the keeper's legs.

Contest Put Beyond Doubt and Attention Turns

Seven minutes after the second, the match was put beyond doubt as a dazzling dribble from Delap teed up Estêvão to tap into an empty net. Neto then finished his treble as the provider again delivered the decisive ball for the attacker to coolly slot past a stranded Phillips.

At that point, the effort Hull had put in in the opening thirty minutes had been forgotten. Their priority must now return to achieving a promotion to the top division under their manager, who left out several first-choice players with that aim in mind.

"In my opinion 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. "Keep fighting, maybe in the upcoming games this can be a positive example of how we should play."

Hull showed plenty of effort to the end, and they almost got a consolation when Lewis Koumas hit a the upright in injury time. But this was the Blues' night, and another positive stride for their recently-appointed head coach at a place he is familiar with intimately.

FA Cup Omens Are Good

The result made for an ultimately straightforward evening’s performance, and the cup competition omens are positive from here for Chelsea. They have played Hull on three previous occasions in this tournament in the last decade and on each occasion, they have gone on to reach the final. There is remains to be done in that regard, but this was another significant tick for Rosenior.