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Amid freezing rain, flurries, and a biting breeze off the waters of the Humber Estuary, combined with a resolute home side pushing hard for a top-flight place, this presented all the makings of a difficult night's work for the visitors.

"We could have scored more but the opposition are a strong team and it was a tough fixture; I am very pleased with the performance," he said. "Hull City is very special to me so it was nice to get a good reception from the fans of fans. The attitude of the players was superb."

The Chelsea manager holds this place close to his heart, considering some of his relatives hail from Hull and his successful spell in charge of the Tigers. This happy connection was extended with a magnificent performance from his squad, who in the end sauntered into the next round of the famous old competition.

Deadly Edge Seals Comfortable Victory

Three days removed from letting slip a two-goal lead in the Premier League, there was a sniff of vulnerability about them going into this intriguing cup clash. The capacity home support evidently felt it too, but Rosenior's men navigated the task with ease.

The manager rang the changes, making multiple of them to his XI. The tie might and perhaps should have been settled long before it actually was, with both the Brazilian winger and Liam Delap guilty of missing glorious opportunities to put Chelsea in front in the opening period.

However, fortunately for the away team, their Portuguese attacker was in a much more clinical mood. He broke the deadlock with a marvellous distance strike, which acted as the spark for Chelsea to assume command of the match. By full time, they had 4 goals, with Neto netting three of them for a brilliant hat-trick.

Delap's Response and Influence

The home side showed great spirit throughout, but the better chances consistently came Chelsea’s way. The winger ought to have opened the scoring when he rounded goalkeeper Dillon Phillips before unbelievably shooting over. The striker then had a comparable nightmare incident in front of goal against his old team.

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

The player had his head in his hands after that miss, but he was hugely instrumental from there on out, registering 3 assists. The first was for the first goal as his pass set up Neto to finish from outside the box. Shortly after the second half began, it was 2-0 as Neto's set-piece went straight in under the keeper's legs.

Contest Put Beyond Doubt and Attention Shifts

Soon after Neto’s second, the match was put beyond doubt as a magnificent run from the forward laid on his teammate to tap into an unguarded goal. The hat-trick hero then finished his treble as Delap once again delivered the decisive pass for the attacker to calmly convert by a stranded goalkeeper.

At that point, the effort Hull had put in in the opening half-hour had been forgotten. Their focus must now switch back to securing a return to the Premier League under their manager, who rested several first-choice individuals with that aim in mind.

"I think we earned at least one goal but if we play like this we will be in a strong position in the league," the Hull manager commented. "Keep fighting, maybe in the upcoming games this can be a good example of how we should play."

Hull showed great effort to the end, and they almost got a consolation when a substitute struck a post in stoppage time. But this was the Blues' evening, and another encouraging step forward for their recently-appointed head coach at a stadium he knows intimately.

FA Cup History Are Good

The result made for an ultimately routine evening’s work, and the cup competition omens are positive from here for Chelsea. They have faced Hull on three other times in this competition in the past ten years and on each occasion, they have gone on to make the final. There is still done in that regard, but this was another significant tick for the Chelsea boss.