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Amid sleet, flurries, and a swirling breeze from the banks of the Humber, alongside a determined Hull City side fighting for promotion, this presented all the ingredients of a difficult night's work for the visitors.

"We might have scored more but the opposition are a strong team and it was a tough fixture; I am delighted 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 supporters. The application of the lads was excellent."

The Rosenior holds this place close to his heart, given part of his relatives hail from Hull and his enjoyable period in charge of the Tigers. This positive association continued with a commanding performance from his team, who in the end strolled into the next round of the FA Cup.

Deadly Edge Secures Comprehensive Victory

Three days after letting slip a two-goal lead in the Premier League, there was a hint of vulnerability about them going into this intriguing tie. The capacity Hull support clearly felt it too, but Rosenior's men navigated the task perfectly.

Rosenior made alterations, enacting multiple of them to his XI. The tie could and perhaps should have been decided long before it actually was, with two Estêvão Willian and the forward at fault for missing glorious opportunities to put Chelsea in front in the first half.

However, fortunately for the visitors, their Portuguese attacker was in a far more ruthless mood. He broke the deadlock with a spectacular distance effort, which proved to be the spark for Chelsea to take command of proceedings. By full time, they had four, with the forward netting a trio of them for a superb hat-trick.

Delap's Redemption and Impact

Hull showed plenty of fight throughout, but the clearer opportunities consistently fell to the visitors. The winger ought to have broken the scoring when he went past goalkeeper Dillon Phillips before unbelievably firing over. Delap then had a comparable nightmare moment in front of goal against his old team.

He blocked a Phillips's kick which came off the crossbar, and he began to run away thinking the ball had gone over the line. It hadn’t, and by the time he realised, Hull's backline had reacted to clear the danger.

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 first goal as his through ball teed up Neto to finish from range. Shortly after the restart, it was 2-0 as Neto's corner went directly in through Phillips's legs.

Tie Put Beyond Doubt and Focus Turns

Seven minutes after Neto’s second goal, the tie was put beyond doubt as a dazzling dribble from Delap teed up his teammate to slide into an empty net. Neto then completed his treble as the provider again played the crucial ball for the attacker to calmly convert by a stranded Phillips.

By that stage, the effort Hull had put in in the opening thirty minutes had been erased. Their priority must now switch back to securing a return to the Premier League under Sergej Jakirovic, who left out a number of key players with that aim in mind.

"In my opinion we deserved at least one goal but if we perform like this we will be in a very good position in the league," he said. "Keep fighting, maybe in the upcoming matches this can be a positive example of how we must play."

There was great endeavour to the end, and they almost got a consolation when a substitute struck a the upright in stoppage time. But this was the Blues' evening, and another positive stride for their new head coach at a stadium he is familiar with intimately.

FA Cup History Are Good

That made for an ultimately routine night's performance, and the cup competition omens are good from here for Chelsea. They have faced Hull on three other times in this tournament in the past ten years and every single time, they have gone on to reach the showpiece. There is remains to be done in that respect, but this was another significant tick for the Chelsea boss.