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Against a backdrop of sleet, snow, and a swirling wind from the banks of the Humber Estuary, combined with a determined Hull City side fighting for promotion, this presented all the ingredients of a challenging night's work for the visitors.

"We might have scored more but Hull are a good team and it was a difficult fixture; I’m very pleased with the performance," the manager stated. "Hull City means a lot to me so it was great to get a good welcome from both sets of supporters. The attitude of the players was excellent."

The Chelsea manager holds this city close to his heart, considering part of his family are from Hull and his successful period in management of the Tigers. His positive connection continued with a magnificent display from his squad, who in the end sauntered into the next round of the FA Cup.

Clinical Edge Secures Comprehensive Victory

Three days removed from surrendering a two-goal advantage in the league, there was a hint of vulnerability about Chelsea going into this potentially tricky cup clash. The capacity home crowd clearly felt it too, but the London side handled the task perfectly.

Rosenior rang the changes, making multiple of them to his starting lineup. The match might and perhaps should have been decided earlier than it actually was, with two the Brazilian winger and the forward at fault for spurning glorious opportunities to put their side in front in the opening period.

However, fortunately for the away team, their Portuguese attacker was in a far more clinical frame of mind. He opened the scoring with a marvellous long-range effort, which proved to be the spark for Chelsea to take control of the match. By the final whistle, they had 4 goals, with the forward scoring a trio of them for a brilliant hat-trick.

The Forward's Redemption and Influence

The home side showed great spirit throughout, but the clearer chances always came to the visitors. The winger should have broken the scoring when he went past keeper Dillon Phillips before inexplicably shooting over. The striker then had a comparable horror incident in front of goal against his former club.

He deflected a Phillips's clearance which came back from the bar, and Delap began to celebrate thinking the ball had gone over the line. It had not, and by the time he understood, Hull's defenders had reacted to clear the threat.

Delap had his head in his hands after that moment, but he was hugely influential from there on out, registering three assists. The first was for the first goal as his pass set up Neto to finish from range. Six minutes after the second half began, it was 2-0 as the forward's set-piece went straight in through Phillips's legs.

Tie Put Beyond Doubt and Focus Turns

Soon after Neto’s second goal, the tie was effectively ended as a dazzling run from Delap teed up Estêvão to slide into an unguarded goal. The hat-trick hero then finished his treble as the provider once again delivered the crucial pass for the striker to coolly slot by a helpless goalkeeper.

At that point, the effort Hull had done in the first thirty minutes had been forgotten. Their priority must now return to achieving a return to the top division under their manager, who rested a number of first-choice players with that aim in mind.

"In my opinion we earned at least one goal but if we perform like this we will be in a strong situation in the Championship," he said. "Never surrender, maybe in the upcoming matches this can be a good lesson of how we must play."

There was plenty of endeavour to the end, and they almost got a consolation when a substitute hit a post in injury time. But this was the Blues' night, and another positive step forward for their new manager at a place he is familiar with intimately.

FA Cup History Are Promising

The result resulted in an in the end straightforward evening’s work, and the cup competition omens are good from here for Chelsea. They have faced Hull on three previous occasions in this tournament in the past ten years and every single time, they have gone on to reach the final. Much still done in that respect, but this was another significant positive for Rosenior.