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Against a backdrop of freezing rain, snow, and a biting wind off the banks of the Humber, combined with a determined Hull City side pushing hard for promotion, this presented all the makings of a challenging night's work for Chelsea.

"We might have added to our tally but Hull are a good team and it was a difficult tie; I’m very pleased with the display," he said. "Hull City means a lot to me so it was great to get a good welcome from the fans of fans. The attitude of the players was superb."

The Rosenior has this city dear to him, considering some of his family hail from Hull and his successful period in charge of the Championship club. His happy connection was extended with a commanding performance from his team, who in the end strolled into the next round of the famous old competition.

Clinical Edge Secures Comprehensive Victory

Seventy-two hours after surrendering a 2-0 lead in the league, there was a sniff of fragility about them going into this potentially tricky cup clash. The packed home crowd clearly sensed it too, but Rosenior's men navigated the challenge perfectly.

The manager made alterations, enacting seven of them to his starting lineup. The tie could and maybe ought to have been decided long before it actually was, with both the Brazilian winger and the forward at fault for spurning excellent opportunities to put Chelsea ahead in the first half.

However, fortunately for the away team, Pedro Neto was in a far more clinical mood. He opened the deadlock with a marvellous distance effort, which proved to be the spark for his team to take command of the match. By full time, they had four, with the forward scoring three of them for a superb hat-trick.

The Forward's Response and Influence

Hull displayed great spirit all game, but the clearer opportunities always fell Chelsea’s way. The winger ought to have broken the scoring when he rounded keeper Dillon Phillips before unbelievably shooting over. The striker then had a similar nightmare incident in front of goal against his old team.

He blocked a the goalkeeper's kick which bounced back from the crossbar, and he started to celebrate thinking the ball had gone over the line. It hadn’t, and by the time he understood, Hull's backline had reacted to avert the threat.

The player had his head in his hands after that miss, but he was hugely instrumental from there on out, providing 3 key passes. The opening was for the opening goal as his pass teed up Neto to finish from range. Shortly after the second half began, it was 2-0 as Neto's set-piece went directly in through the keeper's legs.

Contest Put Beyond Doubt and Attention Turns

Soon after Neto’s second, the match was effectively ended as a magnificent dribble from Delap laid on his teammate to slide into an empty net. Neto then finished his hat-trick as Delap once again delivered the decisive ball for the striker to calmly slot past a stranded goalkeeper.

By that stage, the effort Hull had put in in the first thirty minutes had long since erased. Their priority must now switch back to achieving a return to the top division under Sergej Jakirovic, who rested a number of first-choice individuals with that goal in mind.

"In my opinion we deserved at least one goal but if we perform like this we will be in a strong position in the Championship," the Hull manager commented. "Keep fighting, maybe in the upcoming games this can be a good lesson of how we should play."

There was plenty of effort to the final whistle, and they nearly got a late goal when a substitute struck a post in injury time. But this was Chelsea’s night, and another positive step forward for their new head coach at a stadium he is familiar with intimately.

FA Cup History Look Promising

The result made for an in the end straightforward evening’s work, and the cup competition signs are good from here for the winners. They have faced Hull on three other times in this tournament in the past ten years and on each occasion, they have progressed to reach the final. Much remains to be work in that respect, but this was another significant tick for the Chelsea boss.