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Against a backdrop of freezing rain, snow, and a swirling wind from the waters 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 the opposition are a strong team and it was a difficult fixture; I am delighted with the display," he said. "Hull City is very special to me so it was great 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, considering part of his relatives hail from Hull and his enjoyable period in charge of the Tigers. This happy association continued with a magnificent performance from his team, who in the end sauntered into the next round of the FA Cup.

Clinical Finishing Secures Comprehensive Win

Three days after letting slip a 2-0 advantage in the Premier League, there was a hint of fragility about them going into this potentially tricky tie. The capacity home support evidently felt it too, but Rosenior's men navigated the task perfectly.

Rosenior made alterations, enacting seven of them to his starting lineup. The match could and perhaps should have been settled earlier than it actually was, with two the Brazilian winger and Liam Delap at fault for spurning glorious opportunities to put their side in front in the opening period.

However, fortunately for the away team, Pedro Neto was in a far more ruthless mood. He broke the scoring with a spectacular long-range strike, which proved to be the spark for Chelsea to take control of the match. By full time, they had four, with the forward scoring three of them for a brilliant hat-trick.

The Forward's Redemption and Impact

The home side displayed plenty of fight throughout, but the clearer chances consistently came to the visitors. Estêvão should have broken the scoring when he went past goalkeeper the Hull stopper before inexplicably firing over. Delap then had a comparable horror moment in front of goal against his former club.

He deflected a the goalkeeper's kick which came back from the crossbar, and he began to celebrate believing the ball had crossed the line. It hadn’t, and by the time he understood, Hull's backline had responded to clear the threat.

Delap had his head in his hands after that moment, but he was immensely influential from that point onward, registering three assists. The opening was for the opening goal as his pass set up Neto to finish from outside the box. Shortly after the restart, it was 2-0 as Neto's set-piece went directly in through the keeper's legs.

Contest Sealed and Focus Turns

Seven minutes after the second goal, the match was effectively ended as a magnificent dribble from Delap laid on Estêvão to tap into an empty net. Neto then finished his treble as the provider once again delivered the decisive ball for the striker to coolly slot by a helpless goalkeeper.

By that stage, the work Hull had put in in the first half-hour had been erased. Their priority must now switch back to achieving a promotion to the top division under their manager, who left out a number of key individuals with that aim in mind.

"I think we deserved at least one goal but if we perform like this we will be in a strong situation in the Championship," the Hull manager commented. "Never surrender, maybe in the upcoming matches this can be a positive example of how we must play."

There was great effort to the final whistle, and they almost claimed a late goal when Lewis Koumas hit a the upright in injury time. But this was the Blues' evening, and another positive stride for their new manager at a stadium he knows very well.

Cup Omens Are Good

The result made for an in the end straightforward evening’s performance, and the cup competition signs are positive from here for the winners. They have faced Hull on three other occasions in this competition in the last decade and on each occasion, they have progressed to reach the final. Much remains to be done in that regard, but this was another significant positive for Rosenior.