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Amid freezing rain, flurries, and a swirling breeze from the waters of the Humber Estuary, combined with a determined home side fighting for a top-flight place, this presented all the ingredients of a difficult night's work for the visitors.

"We might have added to our tally but the opposition are a strong team and it was a difficult fixture; I’m delighted with the performance," he said. "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 lads was excellent."

Liam Chelsea manager holds this city dear to him, given part of his family are from Hull and his enjoyable spell in management of the Championship club. His positive association continued with a magnificent display from his team, who in the end strolled into the next round of the FA Cup.

Deadly Finishing Secures Comprehensive Victory

Seventy-two hours after letting slip a two-goal lead in the league, there was a sniff of fragility about Chelsea going into this intriguing tie. The capacity home support clearly felt it too, but Rosenior's men navigated the task perfectly.

The manager made alterations, enacting multiple of them to his starting lineup. The tie could and maybe should have been decided earlier than it eventually was, with both Estêvão Willian and the forward guilty of missing glorious chances to put their side ahead in the first half.

But, fortunately for the visitors, Pedro Neto was in a much more clinical mood. He opened the deadlock with a spectacular long-range strike, which acted as the spark for Chelsea to take command of proceedings. By the final whistle, they had 4 goals, with the forward netting three of them for a superb hat-trick.

Delap's Redemption and Influence

Hull displayed great fight throughout, but the better chances consistently fell Chelsea’s way. The winger ought to have broken the scoring when he went past goalkeeper Dillon Phillips before inexplicably shooting over. Delap then had a similar nightmare incident in front of goal against his old team.

He blocked a the goalkeeper's kick which came off the crossbar, and he started to celebrate thinking the ball had gone over the line. It hadn’t, and by the time he understood, Hull's backline had responded to clear the danger.

The player had his head in his hands after that miss, but he was immensely influential from that point onward, providing three key passes. The opening was for the opening goal as his through ball teed up his teammate to score from outside the box. Shortly after the restart, it was 2-0 as the forward's set-piece went directly in through the keeper's legs.

Contest Sealed and Focus Shifts

Soon after Neto’s second goal, the match was effectively ended as a dazzling run from Delap teed up Estêvão to slide into an unguarded goal. The hat-trick hero then completed his treble as the provider once again played the decisive pass for the striker to coolly convert by a helpless goalkeeper.

By that stage, the effort Hull had put in in the first thirty minutes had long since forgotten. Their priority must now return to achieving a promotion to the Premier League under their manager, who rested a number of key individuals with that aim in mind.

"I think we earned at least one goal but if we perform like this we will be in a strong position in the Championship," the Hull manager commented. "Keep fighting, maybe in the upcoming games this can be a good lesson of how we must play."

Hull showed plenty of endeavour to the final whistle, and they almost got a consolation when Lewis Koumas struck a post in stoppage time. But this was Chelsea’s night, and another encouraging step forward for their new head coach at a stadium he knows very well.

Cup History Are Good

The result resulted in an in the end straightforward night's performance, and the cup competition signs are good 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 final. There is remains to be done in that respect, but this was another huge positive for Rosenior.