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Against a backdrop of sleet, snow, and a biting breeze from the banks of the Humber, alongside a resolute home side pushing hard for a top-flight place, this presented all the ingredients of a difficult night's task for the visitors.

"We might have added to our tally but Hull are a good team and it was a difficult fixture; I’m delighted with the performance," the manager stated. "This club means a lot to me so it was great to get a good reception from both sets of supporters. The attitude of the lads was superb."

The Rosenior holds this city dear to him, given part of his relatives are from Hull and his successful period in management of the Tigers. This positive connection continued with a commanding display from his team, who in the end sauntered into the next round of the FA Cup.

Clinical Edge Seals Comfortable Victory

Three days removed from surrendering a two-goal advantage in the Premier League, there was a hint of fragility about Chelsea going into this potentially tricky cup clash. The packed home crowd clearly sensed it too, but the London side handled the task with ease.

The manager rang the changes, enacting multiple of them to his XI. The match might and perhaps should have been settled earlier than it actually was, with both Estêvão Willian and Liam Delap at fault for missing glorious opportunities to put their side in front in the first half.

But, luckily for the visitors, Pedro Neto was in a far more clinical mood. He broke the deadlock with a marvellous distance strike, which proved to be the spark for Chelsea to take command of proceedings. By the final whistle, they had 4 goals, with the forward netting three of them for a brilliant hat-trick.

The Forward's Response and Impact

Hull displayed plenty of spirit all game, but the better opportunities consistently came Chelsea’s way. Estêvão should have broken the deadlock when he rounded keeper the Hull stopper before inexplicably firing over. The striker then had a comparable horror incident in front of goal against his former club.

He deflected a the goalkeeper's clearance which came back from the bar, and Delap began to celebrate believing the ball had gone over the line. It hadn’t, and by the time he understood, Hull's backline had responded to clear the threat.

Delap had his head in his hands after that moment, but he was immensely instrumental from that point onward, registering three key passes. The first was for the first goal as his pass teed up his teammate to finish from outside the box. Shortly after the restart, it was two as the forward's set-piece went straight in under the keeper's legs.

Contest Put Beyond Doubt and Attention Turns

Seven minutes after the second, the match was put beyond doubt as a magnificent run from Delap laid on his teammate to slide into an unguarded goal. The hat-trick hero then finished his treble as the provider once again delivered the decisive ball for the striker to coolly convert by a helpless goalkeeper.

At that point, the work Hull had done in the opening half-hour had been forgotten. Their priority must now switch back to securing a return to the top division under their manager, who rested a number of key individuals with that goal in mind.

"I think we earned at least one goal but if we play like this we will be in a very good position in the league," he said. "Never surrender, maybe in the next matches this can be a positive example of how we must play."

There was plenty of endeavour to the end, and they nearly claimed a late goal when Lewis Koumas hit a post in stoppage time. But this was the Blues' night, and another encouraging stride for their recently-appointed manager at a stadium he is familiar with very well.

Cup History Look Good

That made for an in the end straightforward night's work, and the FA Cup-shaped omens are good from here for Chelsea. They have played Hull on three previous times in this competition in the last decade and every single time, they have progressed to make the final. Much still work in that regard, but this was another significant tick for the Chelsea boss.