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Amid sleet, flurries, and a biting wind off the waters of the Humber Estuary, combined with a determined home side fighting for a top-flight place, this presented all the ingredients of a difficult night's work for the visitors.

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

The Chelsea manager has this place close to his heart, given some of his family are from Hull and his successful period in charge of the Championship club. This positive association continued with a magnificent performance from his squad, who in the end sauntered into the next round of the famous old competition.

Deadly Finishing Seals Comfortable Win

Seventy-two hours after letting slip a two-goal lead in the Premier League, there was a hint of vulnerability about Chelsea going into this intriguing tie. The packed Hull crowd evidently felt it too, but Rosenior's men handled the challenge perfectly.

The manager made alterations, enacting seven of them to his starting lineup. The tie might and maybe should have been decided earlier than it actually was, with two the Brazilian winger and the forward guilty of spurning excellent opportunities to put Chelsea in front in the first half.

But, luckily for the away team, their Portuguese attacker was in a far more clinical mood. He broke the scoring with a marvellous distance strike, which proved to be the spark for Chelsea to assume control of proceedings. By the final whistle, they had 4 goals, with the forward scoring three of them for a superb hat-trick.

The Forward's Redemption and Influence

Hull showed plenty of fight all game, but the better chances consistently fell 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 nightmare incident in front of goal against his old team.

He blocked a Phillips's kick which bounced back from the bar, and Delap began to celebrate thinking the ball had crossed the line. It hadn’t, and by the time he realised, Hull's backline had reacted to avert the threat.

The player had his head in his hands after that moment, but he was hugely instrumental from that point onward, registering 3 assists. The opening was for the opening goal as his pass set up Neto to finish from range. Six minutes after the second half began, it was two as the forward's corner went straight in through the keeper's legs.

Tie Put Beyond Doubt and Focus Turns

Soon after the second goal, the tie was put beyond doubt as a magnificent dribble from Delap teed up Estêvão to tap into an unguarded goal. Neto then completed his hat-trick as Delap once again played the decisive pass for the striker to coolly slot past a stranded goalkeeper.

At that point, the effort Hull had put in in the opening half-hour had been forgotten. Their focus must now switch back to securing a return to the top division under Sergej Jakirovic, who rested 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 position in the league," the Hull manager commented. "Never surrender, maybe in the upcoming matches this can be a positive lesson of how we should play."

There was plenty of effort to the final whistle, and they nearly got a consolation when a substitute hit a post in injury time. But this was Chelsea’s evening, and another positive step forward for their new head coach at a stadium he knows very well.

Cup Omens Are Promising

That made for an in the end straightforward evening’s work, and the FA Cup-shaped signs are good from here for the winners. They have played Hull on three other times in this competition in the last decade and on each occasion, they have gone on to make the showpiece. There is still work in that respect, but this was another significant tick for Rosenior.