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Against a backdrop of freezing rain, snow, and a biting wind off the waters of the Humber, combined with a resolute Hull City side pushing hard for a top-flight place, this had all the ingredients of a difficult evening’s task for the visitors.

"We could have scored more but Hull are a good team and it was a difficult tie; I’m very pleased with the performance," the manager stated. "Hull City means a lot to me so it was great to get a positive reception from the fans of supporters. The attitude of the players was superb."

Liam Chelsea manager has this city dear to him, given some of his family are from Hull and his successful spell in management of the Championship club. His happy connection was extended with a magnificent performance from his team, who in the end sauntered into the next round of the famous old competition.

Deadly Edge Seals Comfortable 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 intriguing tie. The packed Hull support clearly sensed it too, but Rosenior's men navigated the challenge with ease.

The manager made alterations, making multiple of them to his XI. The match might and maybe ought to have been settled long before it actually was, with both the Brazilian winger and the forward at fault for missing excellent chances to put their side ahead in the opening period.

However, fortunately for the visitors, Pedro Neto was in a much more ruthless frame of mind. He opened the scoring with a spectacular long-range effort, which acted as the spark for his team to assume control of the match. By the final whistle, they had 4 goals, with Neto netting a trio of them for a brilliant hat-trick.

The Forward's Response and Impact

Hull displayed plenty of spirit throughout, but the clearer chances always came to the visitors. The winger should have opened the scoring when he went past keeper the Hull stopper before inexplicably shooting over. The striker then had a comparable nightmare incident in front of goal against his former club.

He blocked a the goalkeeper's kick which came back from the crossbar, and Delap started to celebrate believing the ball had crossed the line. It hadn’t, and by the time he understood, Hull's backline had reacted to avert the threat.

Delap had his head in his hands after that moment, but he was hugely instrumental from that point onward, providing three key passes. The opening was for the first goal as his through ball set up his teammate to score from range. Shortly after the restart, it was 2-0 as Neto's set-piece went straight in through Phillips's legs.

Tie Sealed and Attention Shifts

Soon after the second, the tie was put beyond doubt as a magnificent dribble from Delap teed up his teammate to tap into an empty net. Neto then completed his treble as the provider once again delivered the crucial pass for the striker to coolly convert by a helpless Phillips.

At that point, the work Hull had put in in the first thirty minutes had been forgotten. Their priority must now switch back to achieving a return to the top division under their manager, who rested a number of key players with that aim in mind.

"I think we deserved at least one goal but if we play like this we will be in a very good situation in the Championship," he said. "Never surrender, maybe in the next games this can be a positive lesson of how we must play."

There was plenty of endeavour to the final whistle, and they nearly claimed a late goal when a substitute hit a the upright in injury time. But this was Chelsea’s night, and another encouraging stride for their recently-appointed head coach at a place he is familiar with very well.

FA Cup History Are Good

The result resulted in an in the end straightforward evening’s performance, and the cup competition omens are good from here for Chelsea. They have played Hull on three previous occasions in this competition in the past ten years 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 significant positive for Rosenior.