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Against a backdrop of sleet, snow, and a biting breeze from the waters of the Humber Estuary, combined with a resolute home side fighting for promotion, this had all the ingredients of a difficult night's task for Chelsea.

"We could have added to our tally but the opposition are a good team and it was a tough tie; I am very pleased with the display," he said. "This club is very special to me so it was nice to get a positive welcome from both sets of supporters. The attitude of the players was superb."

Liam Chelsea manager holds 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 was extended with a magnificent display from his team, who in the end sauntered into the next round of the FA Cup.

Clinical Edge Secures Comfortable Victory

Three days after surrendering a 2-0 lead in the Premier League, there was a hint of vulnerability about them going into this potentially tricky cup clash. The packed home crowd clearly sensed it too, but Rosenior's men handled the challenge with ease.

Rosenior made alterations, making seven of them to his starting lineup. The match could and maybe should have been decided long before it actually was, with two the Brazilian winger and the forward at fault for spurning excellent opportunities to put their side ahead in the opening period.

But, fortunately for the visitors, their Portuguese attacker was in a far more ruthless mood. He opened the scoring with a spectacular distance strike, which acted as the catalyst for Chelsea to assume control of proceedings. By full time, they had 4 goals, with the forward scoring three of them for a superb hat-trick.

The Forward's Response and Influence

The home side displayed plenty of fight all game, but the better opportunities consistently fell to the visitors. Estêvão should have opened the scoring when he rounded goalkeeper Dillon Phillips before inexplicably firing over. The striker then had a comparable nightmare moment in front of goal against his old team.

He deflected a Phillips's clearance which came back from the crossbar, and he started to celebrate thinking the ball had crossed the line. It hadn’t, and by the time he realised, Hull's backline had reacted to avert the danger.

Delap had his head in his hands after that moment, but he was hugely influential from there on out, registering 3 assists. The first was for the opening goal as his through ball teed up Neto to finish from range. Six minutes after the second half began, it was 2-0 as Neto's set-piece went directly in under the keeper's legs.

Contest Sealed and Attention Turns

Soon after the second, the match was effectively ended as a dazzling run from Delap teed up his teammate to tap into an unguarded goal. Neto then completed his hat-trick as Delap again delivered the crucial pass for the striker to coolly slot past a helpless goalkeeper.

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

"I think we earned at least one goal but if we perform like this we will be in a strong situation in the Championship," the Hull manager commented. "Never surrender, maybe in the upcoming games this can be a good example of how we must play."

Hull showed plenty of effort to the end, and they nearly got a consolation when a substitute struck a post in stoppage time. But this was the Blues' evening, and another encouraging stride for their recently-appointed manager at a stadium he is familiar with very well.

FA Cup Omens Look Promising

The result resulted in an ultimately routine evening’s performance, and the cup competition omens are positive from here for Chelsea. They have faced Hull on three other occasions in this competition in the last decade and every single time, they have gone on to make the showpiece. There is remains to be done in that regard, but this was another huge positive for the Chelsea boss.