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Amid freezing rain, snow, and a biting wind off the waters of the Humber, alongside a resolute home side pushing hard for promotion, this presented all the makings of a challenging night's task for the visitors.

"We might have scored more but Hull are a strong team and it was a difficult tie; I’m delighted with the performance," the manager stated. "This club means a lot to me so it was great to get a positive welcome from the fans of supporters. The application of the players was excellent."

The Rosenior has this city dear to him, given some of his family are from Hull and his enjoyable period in charge of the Tigers. This happy association was extended with a commanding performance from his squad, who ultimately sauntered into the next round of the FA Cup.

Clinical Finishing Secures Comfortable Victory

Seventy-two hours removed from surrendering a 2-0 advantage in the Premier League, there was a sniff of fragility about Chelsea going into this potentially tricky cup clash. The capacity home crowd clearly sensed it too, but the London side navigated the task with ease.

Rosenior made alterations, making multiple of them to his XI. The match might and perhaps should have been settled long before it eventually was, with both Estêvão Willian and Liam Delap guilty of spurning glorious chances to put their side ahead in the first half.

But, fortunately for the away team, Pedro Neto was in a far more clinical frame of mind. He opened the scoring with a marvellous long-range strike, which proved to be the catalyst for his team to take command of the match. By the final whistle, they had 4 goals, with the forward scoring a trio of them for a superb three-goal haul.

The Forward's Response and Influence

The home side showed plenty of fight all game, but the better chances always came to the visitors. The winger should have broken the scoring when he rounded goalkeeper the Hull stopper before inexplicably shooting over. Delap then had a comparable horror incident in front of goal against his former club.

He blocked a the goalkeeper's clearance which bounced off the crossbar, and Delap started to celebrate thinking the ball had gone over the line. It hadn’t, and by the time he understood, Hull's defenders had responded to clear the threat.

The player had his head in his hands after that moment, but he was hugely influential from there on out, registering three key passes. The opening was for the opening goal as his through ball teed up Neto to score from range. Shortly after the second half began, it was 2-0 as Neto's corner went straight in under the keeper's legs.

Tie Put Beyond Doubt and Attention Shifts

Seven minutes after Neto’s second, the tie was effectively ended as a magnificent run from Delap teed up his teammate to tap into an empty net. The hat-trick hero then finished his treble as the provider once again played the decisive ball for the attacker to calmly convert by a stranded goalkeeper.

At that point, the effort Hull had put in in the first thirty minutes had been erased. Their focus must now return to securing a promotion to the top division under Sergej Jakirovic, who left out several key players with that goal in mind.

"In my opinion 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. "Keep fighting, maybe in the next games this can be a good lesson of how we must play."

Hull showed plenty of endeavour to the end, and they nearly claimed a consolation when a substitute hit a the upright in stoppage time. But this was the Blues' evening, and another positive step forward for their new head coach at a stadium he is familiar with very well.

Cup Omens Look Promising

The result made for an ultimately routine night's work, and the cup competition omens are positive from here for Chelsea. They have faced Hull on three other occasions in this competition in the past ten years and on each occasion, they have progressed to reach the final. There is still work in that respect, but this was another huge tick for Rosenior.