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Against a backdrop of freezing rain, snow, and a swirling wind from the waters of the Humber Estuary, alongside a determined home side pushing hard for a top-flight place, this had all the ingredients of a challenging night's task for Chelsea.

"We could have added to our tally but the opposition are a good team and it was a tough fixture; I’m delighted with the performance," the manager stated. "Hull City is very special to me so it was nice to get a positive reception from both sets of fans. The attitude of the players was excellent."

The Rosenior has this city dear to him, given some of his relatives hail from Hull and his successful spell in management of the Tigers. His happy connection was extended with a magnificent display from his team, who ultimately strolled into the next round of the FA Cup.

Clinical Edge Seals Comfortable Win

Three days removed from letting slip a 2-0 advantage in the Premier League, there was a sniff of vulnerability about Chelsea going into this intriguing cup clash. The packed home support evidently sensed it too, but the London side handled the challenge perfectly.

The manager made alterations, making multiple of them to his XI. The match might and maybe should have been settled earlier than it actually was, with two the Brazilian winger and the forward guilty of missing excellent chances to put their side in front in the first half.

However, fortunately for the visitors, their Portuguese attacker was in a far more ruthless frame of mind. He opened the deadlock with a marvellous long-range effort, which acted as the spark for Chelsea to assume control of proceedings. By full time, they had four, with the forward netting a trio of them for a superb hat-trick.

Delap's Redemption and Influence

Hull displayed plenty of fight all game, but the better opportunities consistently fell to the visitors. The winger should have broken the deadlock when he rounded goalkeeper the Hull stopper before unbelievably shooting over. Delap then had a similar horror moment in front of goal against his former club.

He blocked a the goalkeeper's kick which bounced back from the crossbar, and Delap started to run away believing the ball had gone over the line. It hadn’t, and by the time he understood, Hull's backline had reacted to avert the threat.

Delap had his head in his hands after that moment, but he was hugely instrumental from there on out, registering 3 assists. The first was for the first goal as his pass set up his teammate to finish from outside the box. Six minutes after the restart, it was two as Neto's set-piece went straight in through Phillips's legs.

Tie Put Beyond Doubt and Focus Turns

Soon after Neto’s second goal, the match was put beyond doubt as a magnificent dribble from the forward teed up Estêvão to tap into an empty net. The hat-trick hero then finished his hat-trick as the provider once again played the decisive pass for the attacker to calmly slot by a helpless Phillips.

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

"I think we deserved at least one goal but if we perform like this we will be in a strong situation in the Championship," the Hull manager commented. "Keep fighting, maybe in the upcoming matches this can be a good example of how we should play."

There was great endeavour to the final whistle, and they almost got a late goal when a substitute hit a post in injury time. But this was Chelsea’s night, and another encouraging step forward for their new head coach at a stadium he knows very well.

FA Cup Omens Look Good

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