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Amid freezing rain, snow, and a biting breeze off the banks of the Humber Estuary, combined with a resolute Hull City side fighting for promotion, this presented all the makings of a difficult evening’s work for the visitors.

"We could have added to our tally but Hull are a good team and it was a difficult tie; I’m very pleased with the performance," the manager stated. "This club is very special to me so it was nice to get a good welcome from both sets of fans. The attitude of the lads was superb."

The Rosenior has this place close to his heart, considering some of his family hail from Hull and his successful period in management of the Tigers. His happy connection was extended with a magnificent display from his squad, who in the end sauntered into the next round of the famous old competition.

Deadly Edge Secures Comfortable Win

Three days removed from letting slip a 2-0 lead in the Premier League, there was a hint of fragility about them going into this intriguing cup clash. The packed Hull crowd clearly sensed it too, but Rosenior's men navigated the challenge perfectly.

Rosenior made alterations, enacting seven of them to his XI. The match could and perhaps ought to have been settled long before it eventually was, with both Estêvão Willian and the forward guilty of missing glorious opportunities to put Chelsea in front in the opening period.

However, fortunately for the visitors, their Portuguese attacker was in a far more ruthless mood. He opened the deadlock with a marvellous distance strike, which proved to be the spark for Chelsea to take control of the match. By the final whistle, they had four, with the forward scoring three of them for a superb hat-trick.

Delap's Response and Influence

The home side displayed plenty of spirit throughout, but the better chances always fell to the visitors. Estêvão should have opened the scoring when he went past goalkeeper the Hull stopper before inexplicably firing over. Delap then had a comparable nightmare incident in front of goal against his former club.

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

Delap had his head in his hands after that moment, but he was immensely instrumental from there on out, registering three key passes. The opening was for the opening goal as his through ball set up Neto to finish from outside the box. Shortly after the restart, it was two as Neto's corner went directly in under Phillips's legs.

Contest Sealed and Focus Shifts

Soon after the second goal, the tie was put beyond doubt as a dazzling run from the forward laid on his teammate to tap into an empty net. Neto then completed his treble as Delap again played the decisive ball for the striker to coolly convert by a stranded Phillips.

At that point, the work Hull had done in the first thirty minutes had long since forgotten. Their focus must now return to achieving a promotion to the Premier League under Sergej Jakirovic, who left out 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 situation in the Championship," he said. "Never surrender, maybe in the upcoming games this can be a positive example of how we should play."

There was plenty of effort to the final whistle, and they almost claimed a late goal when Lewis Koumas struck a the upright in injury time. But this was the Blues' night, and another positive stride for their new head coach at a stadium he is familiar with very well.

FA Cup Omens Are Promising

The result made for an ultimately routine night's work, and the cup competition omens are positive from here for Chelsea. They have faced Hull on three previous times in this competition in the last decade and every single time, they have gone on to reach the final. Much still work in that regard, but this was another huge tick for Rosenior.