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Against a backdrop of freezing rain, flurries, and a biting breeze from the banks of the Humber Estuary, combined with a resolute home side pushing hard for a top-flight place, this had all the makings of a difficult evening’s task for Chelsea.

"We might have added to our tally but the opposition are a strong team and it was a tough tie; I am very pleased with the display," the manager stated. "Hull City is very special to me so it was great to get a positive reception from both sets of supporters. The attitude of the players was superb."

The Chelsea manager has this place dear to him, considering some of his relatives are from Hull and his enjoyable period in management of the Championship club. His positive association was extended with a magnificent performance from his squad, who ultimately sauntered into the next round of the famous old competition.

Deadly Edge Seals Comfortable Win

Seventy-two hours removed from letting slip a two-goal advantage in the league, there was a sniff of fragility about them going into this potentially tricky cup clash. The capacity home crowd clearly felt it too, but Rosenior's men navigated the challenge perfectly.

Rosenior rang the changes, enacting multiple of them to his XI. The match could and maybe should have been settled earlier than it actually was, with two Estêvão Willian and Liam Delap guilty of spurning glorious chances to put Chelsea ahead in the opening period.

However, fortunately for the away team, their Portuguese attacker was in a much more ruthless frame of mind. He broke the scoring with a marvellous long-range effort, which proved to be the catalyst for his team to assume command of the match. By the final whistle, they had 4 goals, with Neto scoring three of them for a brilliant three-goal haul.

Delap's Redemption and Impact

Hull showed great fight all game, but the clearer opportunities consistently came to the visitors. The winger ought to have broken the scoring when he went past keeper Dillon Phillips before unbelievably shooting over. The striker then had a similar nightmare incident in front of goal against his former club.

He deflected a Phillips's clearance which came back from the bar, and Delap began to run away believing the ball had crossed the line. It hadn’t, and by the time he realised, Hull's defenders had responded to avert the threat.

The player had his head in his hands after that miss, but he was hugely influential from there on out, providing 3 key passes. The first was for the first goal as his pass teed up his teammate to finish from outside the box. Shortly after the second half began, it was two as the forward's corner went directly in under the keeper's legs.

Tie Put Beyond Doubt and Focus Shifts

Seven minutes after Neto’s second goal, the match was put beyond doubt as a magnificent run from the forward laid on his teammate to tap into an unguarded goal. Neto then completed his treble as Delap once again delivered the crucial ball for the striker to coolly convert past a helpless Phillips.

At that point, the work Hull had put in in the opening half-hour had been erased. Their focus must now switch back to achieving a promotion to the Premier League under their manager, who rested several key individuals with that goal in mind.

"In my opinion we earned at least one goal but if we play like this we will be in a strong position in the league," he said. "Keep fighting, maybe in the next matches this can be a positive example of how we must play."

Hull showed great endeavour to the end, and they almost got a late goal when Lewis Koumas struck a the upright in stoppage time. But this was the Blues' evening, and another encouraging stride for their recently-appointed manager at a place he knows very well.

Cup Omens Look Good

The result resulted in an in the end routine night's performance, and the FA Cup-shaped omens are positive from here for Chelsea. They have played Hull on three other occasions in this competition in the last decade and every single time, they have progressed to make the final. There is still work in that respect, but this was another significant tick for Rosenior.