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Against a backdrop of sleet, snow, and a biting wind off the waters of the Humber Estuary, combined with a determined home side pushing hard for promotion, this had all the makings of a challenging evening’s work for Chelsea.

"We might have scored more but Hull are a good team and it was a difficult fixture; I’m delighted with the display," he said. "This club means a lot to me so it was nice to get a good reception from the fans of fans. The attitude of the lads was superb."

The Rosenior has this city dear to him, given some of his family hail from Hull and his enjoyable spell in management of the Tigers. This positive association continued with a magnificent display from his team, who in the end sauntered into the next round of the famous old competition.

Clinical Finishing Secures Comprehensive Victory

Seventy-two hours removed from surrendering a 2-0 lead in the Premier League, there was a hint of fragility about them going into this potentially tricky cup clash. The capacity Hull support evidently felt it too, but the London side navigated the task perfectly.

Rosenior made alterations, enacting multiple of them to his starting lineup. The tie could and perhaps ought to have been settled long before it actually was, with two Estêvão Willian and Liam Delap at fault for spurning glorious opportunities to put Chelsea in front in the first half.

However, luckily for the visitors, Pedro Neto was in a much more clinical mood. He opened the deadlock with a spectacular distance strike, which acted as the catalyst for Chelsea to assume command of proceedings. By the final whistle, they had 4 goals, with Neto netting a trio of them for a brilliant three-goal haul.

The Forward's Response and Impact

Hull displayed plenty of spirit throughout, but the clearer chances consistently fell to the visitors. The winger ought to have opened the deadlock when he rounded keeper Dillon Phillips before unbelievably firing over. Delap then had a similar horror moment in front of goal against his former club.

He blocked a Phillips's clearance which came off the bar, and Delap started to run away believing the ball had crossed the line. It had not, and by the time he understood, Hull's backline had responded to avert the danger.

Delap had his head in his hands after that miss, but he was hugely influential from there on out, registering three key passes. The first was for the opening goal as his pass set up his teammate to finish from outside the box. Shortly after the second half began, it was two as Neto's corner went straight in under the keeper's legs.

Tie Sealed and Attention Turns

Soon after the second, the tie was effectively ended as a dazzling dribble from Delap teed up Estêvão to tap into an empty net. Neto then completed his hat-trick as the provider once again delivered the decisive pass for the attacker to coolly convert past a helpless goalkeeper.

By that stage, the effort Hull had put in in the first thirty minutes had been forgotten. Their focus must now switch back to achieving a return to the top division under Sergej Jakirovic, who rested a number of first-choice players with that aim 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. "Keep fighting, maybe in the upcoming games this can be a good example of how we must play."

Hull showed great effort to the end, and they nearly claimed a late goal when Lewis Koumas struck a the upright in injury time. But this was the Blues' evening, and another encouraging step forward for their new head coach at a stadium he is familiar with intimately.

FA Cup History Look Promising

That made for an ultimately straightforward evening’s work, and the FA Cup-shaped omens are positive from here for the winners. They have faced Hull on three previous occasions in this tournament in the past ten years and on each occasion, they have progressed to reach the showpiece. Much still work in that respect, but this was another huge tick for Rosenior.