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Against a backdrop of freezing rain, flurries, and a biting breeze off the banks of the Humber, alongside a determined home side pushing hard for a top-flight place, this had all the ingredients of a challenging night's work for the visitors.

"We could have added to our tally but Hull are a strong team and it was a difficult fixture; I’m very pleased with the performance," the manager stated. "This club means a lot to me so it was nice to get a good reception from the fans of fans. The application of the players was excellent."

Liam Chelsea manager has this city close to his heart, considering some of his relatives are from Hull and his successful spell in charge of the Championship club. This positive association continued with a magnificent display from his team, who ultimately strolled into the next round of the FA Cup.

Clinical Edge Secures Comprehensive Victory

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

Rosenior made alterations, enacting multiple of them to his starting lineup. The match could and maybe should have been decided earlier than it eventually was, with both Estêvão Willian and the forward guilty of spurning excellent chances to put Chelsea in front in the opening period.

But, fortunately for the away team, their Portuguese attacker was in a far more clinical frame of mind. He opened the scoring with a spectacular long-range effort, which proved to be the spark for his team to assume command of proceedings. By the final whistle, they had 4 goals, with the forward netting three of them for a brilliant hat-trick.

Delap's Redemption and Influence

The home side displayed plenty of spirit throughout, but the clearer opportunities always came Chelsea’s way. The winger ought to have opened the deadlock when he rounded goalkeeper Dillon Phillips before unbelievably firing over. Delap then had a similar nightmare incident in front of goal against his former club.

He blocked a the goalkeeper's clearance which came back from the crossbar, and he began to run away thinking the ball had gone over the line. It hadn’t, and by the time he realised, Hull's defenders had responded to avert the threat.

Delap had his head in his hands after that miss, but he was immensely influential from there on out, registering three key passes. The first was for the first goal as his pass set up Neto to finish from range. Shortly after the second half began, it was two as the forward's set-piece went directly in through Phillips's legs.

Tie Put Beyond Doubt and Attention Shifts

Soon after Neto’s second, the tie was effectively ended as a dazzling dribble from the forward teed up his teammate to slide into an unguarded goal. The hat-trick hero then finished his hat-trick as the provider again delivered the crucial pass for the attacker to coolly slot by a helpless Phillips.

By that stage, the effort Hull had done in the opening half-hour had long since erased. Their focus must now switch back to securing a promotion to the top division under Sergej Jakirovic, who rested a number of first-choice players with that goal in mind.

"In my opinion we deserved at least one goal but if we play like this we will be in a very good position in the league," he said. "Never surrender, maybe in the next matches this can be a good example of how we must play."

There was great effort to the end, and they almost claimed a consolation when Lewis Koumas struck a the upright in stoppage time. But this was Chelsea’s evening, and another positive stride for their new manager at a place he is familiar with very well.

FA Cup Omens Look Promising

That resulted in an in the end routine night's work, and the cup competition omens are positive from here for Chelsea. They have faced Hull on three previous times in this tournament in the last decade and on each occasion, they have progressed to make the showpiece. There is remains to be work in that regard, but this was another significant tick for the Chelsea boss.