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Amid sleet, flurries, and a biting wind from the banks of the Humber Estuary, alongside a determined home side pushing hard for promotion, this had all the makings of a difficult night's task for Chelsea.

"We could have added to our tally but Hull are a good team and it was a tough tie; I am very pleased with the display," the manager stated. "This club means a lot to me so it was great to get a positive welcome from both sets of fans. The attitude of the players was superb."

Liam Rosenior holds this city close to his heart, considering part of his relatives are from Hull and his successful spell in management of the Tigers. His positive association continued with a commanding display from his squad, who in the end strolled into the next round of the famous old competition.

Deadly Finishing Seals Comprehensive Win

Seventy-two hours after letting slip a 2-0 lead in the Premier League, there was a hint of fragility about them going into this potentially tricky cup clash. The capacity home support clearly felt it too, but Rosenior's men handled the task perfectly.

Rosenior made alterations, making multiple of them to his starting lineup. The tie might and maybe ought to have been decided long before it actually was, with two Estêvão Willian and Liam Delap guilty of missing glorious chances to put Chelsea in front in the opening period.

But, luckily for the visitors, their Portuguese attacker was in a far more clinical frame of mind. He opened the scoring with a marvellous distance effort, which proved to be the spark for Chelsea to assume control of the match. By full time, they had 4 goals, with Neto scoring a trio of them for a superb hat-trick.

Delap's Redemption and Impact

The home side displayed great fight all game, but the better opportunities always fell to the visitors. Estêvão ought to have broken the deadlock when he went past keeper Dillon Phillips before unbelievably shooting over. The striker then had a similar nightmare moment in front of goal against his old team.

He blocked a Phillips's clearance which bounced back from the bar, and he began to run away thinking the ball had gone over the line. It had not, and by the time he realised, Hull's backline had responded to clear the danger.

The player had his head in his hands after that miss, but he was hugely influential from that point onward, registering three key passes. The opening was for the first goal as his pass set up Neto to finish from range. Six minutes after the second half began, it was 2-0 as the forward's corner went straight in through Phillips's legs.

Contest Sealed and Attention Turns

Soon after the second goal, the match was effectively ended as a dazzling dribble from Delap laid on his teammate to slide into an unguarded goal. The hat-trick hero then completed his treble as the provider again delivered the decisive ball for the striker to calmly slot by a stranded goalkeeper.

At that point, the work Hull had put in in the opening thirty minutes had long since forgotten. Their focus must now return to securing a return to the Premier League under their manager, who left out several first-choice individuals 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 very good position in the Championship," the Hull manager commented. "Keep fighting, maybe in the upcoming matches this can be a positive lesson of how we must play."

There was plenty of endeavour to the end, and they almost claimed a late goal when a substitute hit a the upright in stoppage time. But this was Chelsea’s night, and another encouraging stride for their new head coach at a place he knows intimately.

FA Cup Omens Are Promising

That resulted in an in the end routine night's work, and the FA Cup-shaped omens are positive from here for Chelsea. They have played Hull on three other times in this tournament in the past ten years and on each occasion, they have progressed to make the final. There is remains to be work in that regard, but this was another huge tick for the Chelsea boss.