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Amid sleet, snow, and a swirling wind off the waters of the Humber, combined with a determined home side pushing hard for a top-flight place, this presented all the makings of a difficult evening’s task for the visitors.

"We could have added to our tally but the opposition are a good team and it was a tough tie; I’m very pleased with the display," he said. "Hull City is very special to me so it was great to get a good welcome from both sets of fans. The application of the players was superb."

Liam Rosenior holds this city dear to him, given part of his family hail from Hull and his successful period in management of the Tigers. This happy association continued with a magnificent display from his team, who in the end strolled into the next round of the FA Cup.

Clinical Finishing Secures Comfortable Victory

Three days after surrendering a two-goal lead in the Premier League, there was a hint of vulnerability about Chelsea going into this intriguing cup clash. The capacity Hull crowd evidently sensed it too, but the London side navigated the challenge with ease.

The manager made alterations, enacting seven of them to his XI. The tie might and perhaps should have been settled long before it actually was, with both Estêvão Willian and Liam Delap guilty of missing glorious opportunities to put Chelsea in front in the first half.

But, fortunately for the away team, Pedro Neto was in a far more clinical mood. He opened the deadlock with a spectacular long-range effort, which proved to be the catalyst for his team to assume command of proceedings. By full time, they had 4 goals, with Neto scoring a trio of them for a superb three-goal haul.

The Forward's Redemption and Influence

The home side displayed great spirit all game, but the clearer opportunities consistently fell Chelsea’s way. The winger ought to have opened the scoring when he rounded keeper Dillon Phillips before unbelievably firing over. Delap then had a similar horror incident in front of goal against his old team.

He blocked a Phillips's kick which came off the bar, and Delap began to celebrate thinking the ball had crossed the line. It hadn’t, and by the time he understood, Hull's defenders had responded to clear the threat.

The player had his head in his hands after that miss, but he was hugely instrumental from there on out, registering three key passes. The first was for the opening goal as his pass set up Neto to finish from outside the box. Six minutes after the restart, it was 2-0 as Neto's corner went straight in under the keeper's legs.

Contest Put Beyond Doubt and Attention Turns

Seven minutes after Neto’s second goal, the tie was effectively ended as a dazzling dribble from Delap laid on Estêvão to tap into an empty net. Neto then finished his treble as Delap once again played the crucial pass for the striker to calmly slot by a helpless Phillips.

At that point, the effort Hull had done in the opening thirty minutes had long since erased. Their priority must now switch back to securing a return to the Premier League under Sergej Jakirovic, who left out a number of key players with that aim in mind.

"In my opinion we deserved at least one goal but if we play like this we will be in a very good position in the league," he said. "Never surrender, maybe in the next games this can be a positive example of how we should play."

Hull showed great endeavour to the end, and they almost claimed a late goal when Lewis Koumas struck a the upright in stoppage time. But this was Chelsea’s night, and another positive step forward for their recently-appointed head coach at a place he is familiar with very well.

FA Cup History Are Good

That resulted in an ultimately straightforward night's work, 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 reach the final. Much remains to be done in that regard, but this was another huge positive for Rosenior.