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Amid sleet, snow, and a biting wind from the waters of the Humber Estuary, alongside a determined Hull City side pushing hard for promotion, this presented all the makings of a challenging evening’s task for Chelsea.

"We could have added to our tally but Hull are a strong team and it was a tough fixture; I’m delighted with the performance," he said. "Hull City is very special to me so it was nice to get a positive reception from both sets of fans. The application of the lads was excellent."

Liam Rosenior holds this city close to his heart, considering part of his relatives are from Hull and his successful period in management of the Championship club. This positive association continued with a commanding display from his team, who ultimately strolled into the next round of the famous old competition.

Clinical Edge Seals Comfortable Win

Seventy-two hours after surrendering a 2-0 advantage in the league, there was a hint of fragility about them going into this intriguing tie. The packed home support evidently felt it too, but Rosenior's men handled the task perfectly.

Rosenior rang the changes, enacting seven of them to his XI. The match could and maybe ought to have been settled earlier than it eventually was, with two the Brazilian winger and the forward at fault for spurning excellent chances to put their side ahead in the opening period.

But, fortunately for the visitors, their Portuguese attacker was in a much more ruthless mood. He broke the deadlock with a marvellous long-range strike, which acted as the spark for Chelsea to assume control of proceedings. By full time, they had four, with Neto scoring a trio of them for a superb three-goal haul.

The Forward's Response and Influence

Hull displayed great fight all game, but the clearer opportunities always came to the visitors. Estêvão ought to have opened the deadlock when he went past keeper the Hull stopper before unbelievably shooting over. Delap then had a similar nightmare incident in front of goal against his old team.

He deflected a the goalkeeper's kick which came off the crossbar, and he began to run away thinking the ball had crossed the line. It had not, and by the time he realised, Hull's defenders had responded to avert the danger.

Delap had his head in his hands after that miss, but he was hugely influential from that point onward, registering three key passes. The first was for the opening goal as his pass teed up his teammate to finish from range. Shortly after the restart, it was two as Neto's corner went directly in under the keeper's legs.

Contest 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 teed up his teammate to slide into an unguarded goal. The hat-trick hero then completed his treble as Delap again played the crucial pass for the striker to calmly convert by a stranded goalkeeper.

By that stage, the work Hull had done in the opening thirty minutes had been erased. Their priority must now return to securing a return to the top division under Sergej Jakirovic, who rested several key players with that goal in mind.

"I think we earned at least one goal but if we play like this we will be in a strong situation in the league," he said. "Never surrender, maybe in the upcoming matches this can be a positive example of how we should play."

Hull showed plenty of effort to the final whistle, and they almost claimed a late goal when Lewis Koumas hit a the upright in injury time. But this was the Blues' night, and another positive step forward for their recently-appointed manager at a place he knows very well.

FA Cup History Are Promising

The result made for an in the end routine night's work, and the cup competition signs are good from here for the winners. They have played Hull on three other occasions in this tournament in the past ten years and on each occasion, they have progressed to reach the final. Much still work in that regard, but this was another significant positive for the Chelsea boss.