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Amid freezing rain, flurries, and a biting wind from the waters of the Humber, alongside a determined home side fighting for a top-flight place, this presented all the ingredients of a difficult evening’s task for the visitors.

"We could have scored more but the opposition are a good team and it was a tough tie; I’m delighted with the performance," the manager stated. "Hull City is very special to me so it was great to get a good welcome from the fans of supporters. The application of the lads was excellent."

Liam Rosenior has this city dear to him, considering some of his relatives are from Hull and his enjoyable period in charge of the Championship club. His positive association continued with a magnificent display from his team, who ultimately sauntered into the next round of the FA Cup.

Deadly Finishing Secures Comfortable Win

Three days after letting slip a two-goal lead in the league, there was a sniff of fragility about them going into this potentially tricky tie. The capacity Hull crowd clearly sensed it too, but Rosenior's men navigated the challenge perfectly.

Rosenior rang the changes, making multiple of them to his XI. The tie might and perhaps should have been decided earlier than it actually was, with two Estêvão Willian and the forward guilty of spurning excellent chances to put their side ahead in the first half.

But, luckily for the away team, their Portuguese attacker was in a far more clinical mood. He opened the deadlock with a marvellous distance effort, which proved to be the spark for Chelsea to assume control of proceedings. By the final whistle, they had four, with Neto netting a trio of them for a superb three-goal haul.

The Forward's Redemption and Influence

Hull displayed plenty of spirit all game, but the better opportunities always fell to the visitors. The winger should have broken the deadlock when he rounded goalkeeper Dillon Phillips before unbelievably shooting over. The striker then had a similar nightmare incident in front of goal against his old team.

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

The player had his head in his hands after that moment, but he was immensely influential from that point onward, registering three key passes. The opening was for the first goal as his through ball set up Neto to finish from outside the box. Six minutes after the restart, it was two as the forward's corner went directly in through Phillips's legs.

Tie Sealed and Attention Shifts

Seven minutes after the second, the match was put beyond doubt as a dazzling dribble from the forward teed up his teammate to slide into an empty net. Neto then finished his treble as the provider once again delivered the crucial ball for the striker to coolly convert past a stranded goalkeeper.

At that point, the effort Hull had put in in the opening half-hour had been forgotten. Their focus must now return to achieving a promotion to the Premier League under their manager, who rested several first-choice players with that goal in mind.

"In my opinion 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. "Never surrender, maybe in the upcoming games this can be a good 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 post in injury time. But this was Chelsea’s night, and another positive step forward for their recently-appointed head coach at a place he knows intimately.

FA Cup Omens Look Good

That resulted in an in the end straightforward evening’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 competition in the last decade and every single time, they have gone on to make the showpiece. Much still work in that respect, but this was another significant positive for Rosenior.