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Against a backdrop of freezing rain, flurries, and a biting wind from the waters of the Humber, alongside a determined Hull City side fighting for promotion, this had all the makings of a difficult night's task for the visitors.

"We might have scored more but the opposition are a strong team and it was a tough fixture; I’m delighted with the performance," the manager stated. "Hull City is very special to me so it was nice to get a good welcome from both sets of fans. The application of the players was superb."

Liam Chelsea manager holds this city dear to him, given some of his relatives are from Hull and his successful spell in management of the Tigers. His happy association was extended with a magnificent performance from his team, who in the end strolled into the next round of the famous old competition.

Clinical Edge Secures Comprehensive Victory

Three days removed from letting slip a two-goal lead in the league, there was a hint of vulnerability about Chelsea going into this intriguing tie. The capacity Hull support clearly sensed it too, but Rosenior's men navigated the challenge perfectly.

The manager rang the changes, enacting multiple of them to his XI. The match could and maybe should have been settled long before it actually was, with two Estêvão Willian and the forward guilty of missing excellent chances to put their side in front in the opening period.

But, luckily for the visitors, their Portuguese attacker was in a much more ruthless mood. He opened the deadlock with a spectacular distance effort, which acted as the catalyst for his team to take command of proceedings. By full time, they had four, with the forward netting three of them for a brilliant three-goal haul.

Delap's Response and Impact

Hull showed great spirit throughout, but the better opportunities always fell Chelsea’s way. Estêvão should have broken the scoring when he went past goalkeeper the Hull stopper before unbelievably firing over. The striker then had a similar nightmare moment in front of goal against his old team.

He deflected a Phillips's kick which bounced 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 reacted to clear the danger.

Delap had his head in his hands after that moment, but he was immensely instrumental from that point onward, registering three key passes. The first was for the opening goal as his through ball set up Neto to score from outside the box. Shortly after the restart, it was 2-0 as the forward's set-piece went directly in under the keeper's legs.

Tie Put Beyond Doubt and Attention Shifts

Seven minutes after Neto’s second, the tie was put beyond doubt as a magnificent run from the forward laid on his teammate to tap into an unguarded goal. Neto then finished his hat-trick as Delap once again delivered the crucial ball for the attacker to calmly slot by a stranded goalkeeper.

At that point, the work Hull had done in the opening half-hour had long since forgotten. Their focus must now return to securing a promotion to the Premier League 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," the Hull manager commented. "Keep fighting, maybe in the upcoming matches this can be a positive example of how we should play."

Hull showed great endeavour to the final whistle, and they nearly claimed a late goal when Lewis Koumas hit a the upright in stoppage time. But this was the Blues' evening, and another encouraging step forward for their new head coach at a place he knows intimately.

FA Cup Omens Are Promising

That made for an ultimately routine night's performance, and the FA Cup-shaped omens are good from here for the winners. They have played Hull on three previous times in this tournament in the last decade and every single time, they have gone on to reach the showpiece. Much still work in that regard, but this was another huge tick for the Chelsea boss.