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Against a backdrop of freezing rain, snow, and a biting wind off the waters of the Humber Estuary, alongside a determined home side pushing hard for promotion, this presented all the ingredients of a difficult night's task for Chelsea.

"We could have added to our tally but Hull are a strong team and it was a difficult tie; I am very pleased with the display," the manager stated. "This club is very special to me so it was great to get a positive welcome from both sets of fans. The application of the lads was superb."

The Rosenior holds this city close to his heart, considering some of his family are from Hull and his successful spell in management of the Championship club. His positive connection continued with a commanding performance from his squad, who in the end sauntered into the next round of the FA Cup.

Clinical Finishing Seals Comprehensive Victory

Three days removed from letting slip a 2-0 advantage in the league, there was a sniff of fragility about them going into this intriguing tie. The packed Hull crowd evidently sensed it too, but the London side navigated the task perfectly.

The manager made alterations, making multiple of them to his starting lineup. The match could and perhaps ought to have been decided long before it eventually was, with two the Brazilian winger and the forward guilty of missing excellent opportunities to put their side ahead in the opening period.

But, fortunately for the visitors, Pedro Neto was in a far more ruthless mood. He broke the scoring with a spectacular distance strike, which proved to be the catalyst for his team to assume command of the match. By full time, they had 4 goals, with Neto netting three of them for a brilliant three-goal haul.

The Forward's Response and Impact

Hull displayed great spirit throughout, but the better opportunities consistently came to the visitors. Estêvão should have opened the scoring when he went past goalkeeper Dillon Phillips before unbelievably firing over. Delap then had a similar horror incident in front of goal against his old team.

He blocked a the goalkeeper's kick which came off the crossbar, and Delap started to run away believing the ball had gone over the line. It hadn’t, and by the time he realised, Hull's backline had responded to avert the threat.

The player had his head in his hands after that moment, but he was immensely influential from there on out, registering 3 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 2-0 as Neto's corner went directly in under Phillips's legs.

Tie Put Beyond Doubt and Attention Turns

Seven minutes after the second goal, the tie was put beyond doubt as a magnificent run from the forward laid on his teammate to tap into an unguarded goal. Neto then completed his treble as Delap again played the crucial pass for the striker to calmly convert by a helpless goalkeeper.

At that point, the effort Hull had put in in the first half-hour had long since erased. Their focus must now return to securing a promotion to the Premier League under their manager, who left out a number of first-choice individuals with that goal in mind.

"In my opinion we deserved at least one goal but if we perform like this we will be in a strong position in the Championship," he said. "Never surrender, maybe in the next matches this can be a good example of how we should play."

There was plenty of endeavour to the final whistle, and they nearly got a consolation when a substitute struck a the upright in stoppage time. But this was the Blues' evening, and another encouraging stride for their recently-appointed head coach at a stadium he knows very well.

FA Cup History Are Good

The result made for an in the end routine evening’s performance, and the cup competition omens are good from here for Chelsea. They have faced Hull on three previous times in this competition in the last decade and every single time, they have gone on to reach the showpiece. Much still work in that respect, but this was another significant tick for the Chelsea boss.