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Amid freezing rain, flurries, and a swirling wind off the waters of the Humber, alongside a resolute Hull City side fighting for a top-flight place, this had all the ingredients of a difficult night's work for Chelsea.

"We could have scored more but the opposition are a strong team and it was a difficult tie; I am very pleased with the performance," the manager stated. "This club means a lot to me so it was great to get a good welcome from both sets of supporters. The attitude of the lads was superb."

The Rosenior has this place close to his heart, considering some of his family are from Hull and his enjoyable spell in charge of the Championship club. This happy connection was extended with a magnificent display from his team, who in the end sauntered into the next round of the FA Cup.

Deadly Finishing Seals Comfortable Victory

Three days removed from surrendering a 2-0 lead in the Premier League, there was a hint of fragility about Chelsea going into this intriguing cup clash. The packed Hull crowd evidently sensed it too, but the London side handled the task with ease.

Rosenior made alterations, enacting multiple of them to his XI. The tie could and perhaps should have been settled long before it actually was, with both Estêvão Willian and the forward guilty of missing excellent chances to put their side ahead in the first half.

However, luckily for the visitors, Pedro Neto was in a much more ruthless mood. He broke the deadlock with a marvellous long-range effort, which proved to be the catalyst for his team to assume control of proceedings. By the final whistle, they had four, with the forward scoring a trio of them for a brilliant hat-trick.

The Forward's Response and Impact

Hull showed great spirit all game, but the clearer chances consistently came Chelsea’s way. Estêvão ought to have broken the deadlock when he rounded keeper Dillon Phillips before inexplicably firing over. The striker then had a comparable nightmare moment in front of goal against his old team.

He blocked a Phillips's kick which came off the bar, and he began to run away thinking the ball had gone over the line. It hadn’t, and by the time he realised, Hull's defenders had reacted to avert the danger.

Delap had his head in his hands after that miss, but he was immensely instrumental from that point onward, providing 3 assists. The first was for the opening goal as his through ball teed up Neto to finish from range. Shortly after the second half began, it was 2-0 as the forward's set-piece went directly in under the keeper's legs.

Contest Put Beyond Doubt and Focus Turns

Seven minutes after Neto’s second, the match was put beyond doubt as a dazzling dribble from the forward teed up Estêvão to tap into an empty net. Neto then finished his treble as the provider again delivered the decisive pass for the striker to coolly convert by a stranded Phillips.

At that point, the work Hull had done in the opening half-hour had been erased. Their priority must now switch back to achieving a promotion to the Premier League under Sergej Jakirovic, who left out a number of key individuals with that goal in mind.

"I think we deserved at least one goal but if we perform like this we will be in a very good situation in the league," he said. "Keep fighting, maybe in the next games this can be a positive lesson of how we should play."

Hull showed plenty of endeavour to the end, and they almost got a consolation when Lewis Koumas hit a post in stoppage time. But this was Chelsea’s evening, and another positive stride for their recently-appointed manager at a place he is familiar with very well.

Cup History Look Good

The result resulted in an in the end straightforward evening’s work, and the FA Cup-shaped signs are good from here for the winners. They have played Hull on three previous occasions in this competition in the last decade and every single time, they have progressed to reach the final. There is remains to be work in that respect, but this was another huge tick for Rosenior.