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Amid sleet, snow, and a biting breeze off the banks of the Humber, combined with a determined home side pushing hard for promotion, this presented all the ingredients of a difficult evening’s task for Chelsea.

"We might have added to our tally but the opposition are a good team and it was a difficult tie; I am very pleased with the performance," the manager stated. "This club is very special to me so it was nice to get a good welcome from the fans of supporters. The attitude of the lads was excellent."

The Rosenior holds this place dear to him, given some of his family are from Hull and his enjoyable spell in management of the Championship club. This happy association continued with a magnificent performance from his team, who ultimately sauntered into the next round of the famous old competition.

Clinical Edge Seals Comprehensive Victory

Seventy-two hours after surrendering a two-goal advantage in the Premier League, there was a sniff of vulnerability about them going into this intriguing cup clash. The capacity Hull support evidently felt it too, but the London side navigated the challenge with ease.

Rosenior rang the changes, making seven of them to his XI. The match might and maybe ought to have been decided earlier than it eventually was, with both Estêvão Willian and the forward guilty of spurning excellent opportunities to put their side in front in the opening period.

But, fortunately for the away team, their Portuguese attacker was in a far more ruthless mood. He opened the deadlock with a spectacular distance strike, which proved to be the spark for his team to assume command of the match. By full time, they had four, with the forward scoring three of them for a brilliant three-goal haul.

Delap's Redemption and Influence

Hull displayed great fight all game, but the better chances always came Chelsea’s way. Estêvão should have broken the deadlock when he rounded goalkeeper the Hull stopper before unbelievably shooting over. Delap then had a comparable nightmare moment in front of goal against his old team.

He blocked a Phillips's kick which bounced back from the crossbar, and Delap started to celebrate believing the ball had crossed the line. It hadn’t, and by the time he realised, Hull's defenders had responded to avert the threat.

Delap had his head in his hands after that miss, but he was hugely influential from there on out, registering 3 key passes. The first was for the opening goal as his through ball set up his teammate to finish from range. Six minutes after the restart, it was 2-0 as Neto's corner went straight in through the keeper's legs.

Contest Sealed and Focus Shifts

Seven minutes after the second, the tie was put beyond doubt as a dazzling dribble from Delap teed up his teammate to tap into an unguarded goal. Neto then completed his treble as Delap again played the decisive pass for the attacker to coolly convert past a helpless goalkeeper.

At that point, the effort Hull had done in the opening thirty minutes had been forgotten. Their focus must now return to achieving a promotion to the top division under Sergej Jakirovic, who rested several key players with that goal in mind.

"I think we earned at least one goal but if we play like this we will be in a strong situation in the league," the Hull manager commented. "Keep fighting, maybe in the next matches this can be a positive lesson of how we should play."

Hull showed plenty of endeavour to the end, and they nearly got a consolation when Lewis Koumas struck a post in stoppage time. But this was the Blues' evening, and another positive stride for their recently-appointed manager at a stadium he is familiar with intimately.

Cup Omens Are Promising

The result made for an in the end routine evening’s performance, and the FA Cup-shaped signs are positive from here for Chelsea. They have faced Hull on three previous times in this tournament in the last decade and every single time, they have gone on to make the final. Much remains to be work in that respect, but this was another significant tick for Rosenior.