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Against a backdrop of freezing rain, flurries, and a swirling breeze off the banks of the Humber, combined with a resolute Hull City side fighting for promotion, this had all the ingredients of a challenging evening’s task for the visitors.

"We might have scored more but the opposition are a good team and it was a tough fixture; I am delighted with the performance," he said. "Hull City is very special to me so it was great to get a positive welcome from the fans of fans. The attitude of the players was excellent."

Liam Chelsea manager holds this city dear to him, given part of his family hail from Hull and his successful spell in management of the Championship club. His positive connection was extended with a magnificent display from his squad, who in the end sauntered into the next round of the famous old competition.

Deadly Finishing Secures Comfortable Win

Three days removed from surrendering a two-goal lead in the Premier League, there was a hint of fragility about Chelsea going into this intriguing cup clash. The packed Hull crowd clearly felt it too, but the London side handled the task perfectly.

Rosenior made alterations, making multiple of them to his XI. The tie could and maybe should have been decided long before it eventually was, with two the Brazilian winger and Liam Delap guilty of missing glorious chances to put Chelsea in front in the first half.

But, luckily for the visitors, Pedro Neto was in a far more clinical frame of mind. He broke the deadlock with a spectacular distance strike, which proved to be the spark for Chelsea to assume command of the match. By full time, they had 4 goals, with the forward netting a trio of them for a brilliant three-goal haul.

Delap's Response and Impact

Hull displayed plenty of fight throughout, but the clearer opportunities consistently came Chelsea’s way. The winger should have broken the scoring when he rounded goalkeeper the Hull stopper before unbelievably shooting over. Delap then had a comparable horror moment in front of goal against his old team.

He deflected a the goalkeeper's kick which came back from the crossbar, and he began to celebrate thinking the ball had crossed the line. It had not, and by the time he realised, Hull's defenders had reacted to avert the threat.

The player had his head in his hands after that miss, but he was hugely instrumental from there on out, providing three key passes. The opening was for the opening goal as his pass set up Neto to score from range. Six minutes after the second half began, it was 2-0 as the forward's set-piece went straight in through the keeper's legs.

Tie Sealed and Focus Turns

Seven minutes after Neto’s second, the tie was effectively ended as a dazzling run from Delap laid on his teammate to slide into an unguarded goal. Neto then completed his hat-trick as Delap again delivered the crucial pass for the attacker to coolly convert past a helpless goalkeeper.

At that point, the work Hull had done in the first thirty minutes had been forgotten. Their priority must now return to securing a return to the Premier League under Sergej Jakirovic, who left out several key players with that goal in mind.

"I think we earned at least one goal but if we play like this we will be in a strong situation in the Championship," he said. "Keep fighting, maybe in the next games this can be a good example of how we should play."

There was great endeavour to the end, and they almost got a consolation when a substitute struck a the upright in stoppage time. But this was the Blues' night, and another encouraging stride for their recently-appointed head coach at a place he is familiar with intimately.

Cup History Are Promising

The result made for an in the end routine night's performance, and the FA Cup-shaped signs are positive from here for Chelsea. They have faced Hull on three other times in this competition in the past ten years and every single time, they have gone on to make the showpiece. Much remains to be work in that regard, but this was another significant positive for the Chelsea boss.