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Against a backdrop of freezing rain, flurries, and a swirling breeze from the banks of the Humber Estuary, combined with a determined home side pushing hard for promotion, this presented all the makings of a challenging night's work for the visitors.

"We could have scored more but the opposition are a strong team and it was a tough fixture; I am very pleased with the performance," the manager stated. "This club is very special to me so it was great to get a positive welcome from the fans of fans. The attitude of the lads was superb."

The Chelsea manager holds this place close to his heart, given part of his family are from Hull and his successful period in management of the Championship club. This happy connection continued with a commanding performance from his team, who in the end strolled into the next round of the FA Cup.

Deadly Edge Seals Comfortable Victory

Seventy-two hours removed from surrendering a two-goal advantage in the Premier League, there was a sniff of fragility about them going into this intriguing cup clash. The capacity home crowd clearly sensed it too, but the London side handled the task perfectly.

Rosenior rang the changes, enacting multiple of them to his XI. The match could and maybe should have been decided earlier than it eventually was, with both the Brazilian winger and Liam Delap at fault for spurning glorious opportunities to put their side ahead in the first half.

But, luckily for the away team, Pedro Neto was in a far more ruthless frame of mind. He broke the deadlock with a marvellous distance effort, which proved to be the catalyst for his team to take command of the match. By full time, they had 4 goals, with the forward scoring a trio of them for a superb three-goal haul.

The Forward's Redemption and Influence

The home side displayed plenty of fight throughout, but the better chances consistently fell to the visitors. Estêvão ought to have broken the deadlock when he went past goalkeeper Dillon Phillips before unbelievably firing over. The striker then had a comparable horror incident in front of goal against his former club.

He blocked a the goalkeeper's kick which came off the bar, and Delap started to celebrate thinking the ball had gone over the line. It had not, and by the time he realised, Hull's defenders had reacted to avert the threat.

Delap had his head in his hands after that moment, but he was hugely influential from that point onward, registering 3 assists. The opening was for the opening goal as his through ball teed up his teammate to finish from outside the box. Shortly after the restart, it was 2-0 as Neto's corner went straight in under the keeper's legs.

Tie Put Beyond Doubt and Attention Turns

Soon after the second goal, the tie was put beyond doubt as a magnificent run from Delap laid on his teammate to tap into an empty net. Neto then completed his hat-trick as Delap again played the decisive ball for the attacker to coolly slot by a stranded Phillips.

By that stage, the work Hull had put in in the opening thirty minutes had long since erased. Their priority must now switch back to securing a promotion to the Premier League under Sergej Jakirovic, who rested several key individuals with that goal in mind.

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

There was great endeavour to the final whistle, and they nearly got a late goal when Lewis Koumas struck a the upright in stoppage time. But this was the Blues' evening, and another positive step forward for their recently-appointed head coach at a place he is familiar with very well.

FA Cup History Are Promising

That resulted in an in the end routine night's work, and the cup competition signs are positive from here for the winners. They have faced Hull on three other times in this competition in the last decade and every single time, they have progressed to reach the final. There is still work in that regard, but this was another huge positive for the Chelsea boss.