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Amid freezing rain, flurries, and a swirling breeze from the banks of the Humber, alongside a resolute Hull City side pushing hard for a top-flight place, this had all the ingredients of a challenging evening’s work for the visitors.

"We might have scored more but Hull are a good team and it was a difficult fixture; I am very pleased with the performance," he said. "This club is very special to me so it was nice to get a positive reception from the fans of fans. The application of the lads was superb."

Liam Rosenior has this place dear to him, considering part of his family are from Hull and his enjoyable spell in management of the Tigers. His positive association continued with a magnificent performance from his team, who in the end strolled into the next round of the FA Cup.

Clinical Edge Secures Comfortable Victory

Three days after letting slip a two-goal lead in the league, there was a hint of vulnerability about them going into this intriguing cup clash. The packed home support clearly sensed it too, but the London side handled the task with ease.

The manager rang the changes, enacting seven of them to his XI. The tie might and maybe should have been settled earlier than it eventually was, with two the Brazilian winger and the forward at fault for spurning excellent chances to put Chelsea ahead in the opening period.

But, luckily for the visitors, Pedro Neto was in a far more clinical frame of mind. He opened the scoring with a marvellous long-range effort, which acted as the catalyst for Chelsea to take control of the match. By full time, they had four, with the forward netting three of them for a superb hat-trick.

Delap's Response and Influence

The home side showed plenty of spirit all game, but the better opportunities always came to the visitors. Estêvão should have broken the deadlock when he rounded keeper Dillon Phillips before unbelievably shooting over. The striker then had a similar nightmare moment in front of goal against his old team.

He deflected a Phillips's kick which bounced off the bar, and he began to celebrate thinking the ball had crossed the line. It hadn’t, and by the time he realised, Hull's backline had reacted to clear the threat.

Delap had his head in his hands after that miss, but he was hugely influential from there on out, registering three assists. The opening was for the first goal as his pass teed up Neto to finish from outside the box. Six minutes after the second half began, it was 2-0 as Neto's set-piece went directly in under Phillips's legs.

Tie Sealed and Attention Shifts

Soon after Neto’s second goal, the tie was effectively ended as a magnificent run from Delap laid on his teammate to tap into an empty net. Neto then finished his treble as the provider once again played the decisive pass for the striker to calmly slot past a helpless goalkeeper.

By that stage, the work Hull had put in in the opening half-hour had long since forgotten. Their priority must now switch back to securing a promotion to the Premier League under Sergej Jakirovic, who rested a number of key individuals with that goal in mind.

"I think we deserved at least one goal but if we play like this we will be in a strong position in the Championship," the Hull manager commented. "Never surrender, maybe in the upcoming matches this can be a positive example of how we should play."

There was great endeavour to the end, and they nearly got a consolation when Lewis Koumas struck a post in stoppage time. But this was Chelsea’s night, and another encouraging step forward for their new manager at a stadium he knows intimately.

FA Cup History Are Good

The result made for an ultimately routine night's work, and the cup competition omens are positive from here for the winners. They have played 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 regard, but this was another huge positive for Rosenior.