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Amid sleet, flurries, and a biting breeze off the banks of the Humber Estuary, alongside a resolute Hull City side pushing hard for promotion, this had all the ingredients of a challenging evening’s work for Chelsea.

"We could have added to our tally but Hull are a good team and it was a tough fixture; I’m delighted with the display," the manager stated. "Hull City means a lot to me so it was nice to get a good welcome from both sets of fans. The application of the lads was superb."

Liam Rosenior holds this place close to his heart, given part of his relatives hail from Hull and his successful spell in charge of the Tigers. His positive connection continued with a magnificent performance from his team, who in the end sauntered into the next round of the FA Cup.

Clinical Edge Seals Comprehensive Victory

Seventy-two hours removed from letting slip a 2-0 lead in the league, there was a sniff of fragility about them going into this intriguing cup clash. The capacity home support clearly felt it too, but Rosenior's men navigated the challenge with ease.

The manager made alterations, making multiple of them to his XI. The match could and perhaps should have been decided earlier than it actually was, with two the Brazilian winger and Liam Delap guilty of missing glorious opportunities to put Chelsea in front in the opening period.

However, fortunately for the visitors, Pedro Neto was in a far more clinical mood. He opened the scoring with a marvellous long-range strike, which proved to be the catalyst for Chelsea to assume control of proceedings. By the final whistle, they had 4 goals, with Neto netting three of them for a brilliant hat-trick.

The Forward's Redemption and Impact

The home side displayed plenty of spirit throughout, but the better chances consistently came to the visitors. Estêvão ought to have opened the deadlock when he went past keeper Dillon Phillips before inexplicably shooting over. Delap then had a similar nightmare moment in front of goal against his former club.

He deflected a the goalkeeper's kick which came off the crossbar, and he started to run away believing the ball had crossed the line. It had not, and by the time he realised, Hull's defenders had reacted to clear the danger.

Delap had his head in his hands after that miss, but he was immensely influential from that point onward, providing three key passes. The opening was for the first goal as his pass set up his teammate to score 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

Seven minutes after the second goal, the tie was effectively ended as a magnificent run from Delap teed up his teammate to tap into an empty net. The hat-trick hero then finished his hat-trick as Delap once again played the decisive ball for the striker to calmly convert by a stranded goalkeeper.

By that stage, the work Hull had done in the first half-hour had long since erased. Their priority must now return to achieving a return to the Premier League under their manager, who left out a number of first-choice players with that goal in mind.

"I think we deserved 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 positive lesson of how we should play."

Hull showed great endeavour to the end, and they nearly claimed a consolation when a substitute struck a the upright in injury time. But this was Chelsea’s evening, and another positive stride for their recently-appointed manager at a place he is familiar with intimately.

Cup History Are Good

That made for an in the end routine night's work, and the FA Cup-shaped signs are good from here for Chelsea. They have faced Hull on three other occasions in this tournament in the past ten years and every single time, they have progressed to make the final. There is still done in that regard, but this was another huge positive for Rosenior.