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Against a backdrop of freezing rain, snow, and a swirling breeze from the banks of the Humber, combined with a determined home side pushing hard for promotion, this had all the makings of a challenging evening’s task for the visitors.

"We might have scored more but the opposition are a strong team and it was a difficult tie; I’m delighted with the display," the manager stated. "Hull City means a lot to me so it was great to get a positive reception from both sets of fans. The application of the lads was excellent."

Liam Rosenior holds this place dear to him, given part of his family hail from Hull and his successful period in management of the Championship club. His happy connection was extended with a commanding display from his team, who ultimately sauntered into the next round of the FA Cup.

Deadly Finishing Seals Comfortable Win

Seventy-two hours after letting slip a 2-0 lead in the Premier League, there was a hint of vulnerability about them going into this intriguing cup clash. The packed home support clearly felt it too, but Rosenior's men navigated the task perfectly.

The manager rang the changes, making seven of them to his starting lineup. The match might and perhaps should have been settled earlier than it actually was, with both Estêvão Willian and the forward guilty of spurning glorious chances to put Chelsea in front in the first half.

But, luckily for the visitors, their Portuguese attacker was in a much more ruthless mood. He opened the deadlock with a marvellous long-range effort, which acted as the catalyst for his team to assume command of proceedings. By the final whistle, they had 4 goals, with Neto netting three of them for a superb hat-trick.

Delap's Response and Influence

The home side displayed plenty of spirit throughout, but the clearer chances consistently came Chelsea’s way. The winger ought to have opened the scoring when he went past goalkeeper Dillon Phillips before unbelievably shooting over. Delap then had a similar nightmare incident in front of goal against his former club.

He blocked a Phillips's kick which bounced off the bar, and Delap began to run away thinking the ball had crossed the line. It hadn’t, and by the time he realised, Hull's defenders had reacted to avert the danger.

The player had his head in his hands after that moment, but he was immensely instrumental from there on out, providing 3 assists. The first was for the first goal as his pass teed up Neto to score from outside the box. Six minutes after the second half began, it was 2-0 as Neto's corner went directly in through Phillips's legs.

Tie Sealed and Attention Shifts

Seven minutes after the second, the tie was put beyond doubt as a dazzling dribble from the forward teed up Estêvão to tap into an empty net. Neto then finished his hat-trick as Delap again played the decisive ball for the striker to calmly convert by a helpless goalkeeper.

At that point, the work Hull had put in in the opening half-hour had been erased. Their priority must now return to securing a promotion to the top division under Sergej Jakirovic, who left out several key players with that goal in mind.

"In my opinion we deserved at least one goal but if we play like this we will be in a strong situation in the Championship," he said. "Keep fighting, maybe in the upcoming matches this can be a good lesson of how we must play."

There was plenty of endeavour to the final whistle, and they nearly got a consolation when a substitute struck a the upright in injury time. But this was Chelsea’s evening, and another encouraging step forward for their recently-appointed manager at a stadium he is familiar with intimately.

Cup Omens Look Promising

That made for an in the end routine evening’s work, and the FA Cup-shaped omens are positive from here for Chelsea. They have played Hull on three other times in this competition in the past ten years and every single time, they have gone on to reach the showpiece. There is still work in that regard, but this was another huge positive for Rosenior.