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Amid sleet, snow, and a biting wind off the waters of the Humber Estuary, combined with a determined home side fighting for a top-flight place, this presented all the makings of a challenging night's work for Chelsea.

"We could have added to our tally but the opposition are a good team and it was a tough fixture; I am delighted with the performance," the manager stated. "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 players was superb."

Liam Rosenior has this place dear to him, given part of his relatives are from Hull and his enjoyable period in charge of the Tigers. This happy association was extended with a commanding display from his squad, who in the end sauntered into the next round of the famous old competition.

Deadly Edge Seals Comfortable Win

Three days after letting slip a 2-0 lead in the Premier League, there was a hint of vulnerability about them going into this intriguing tie. The capacity home crowd evidently sensed it too, but the London side handled the challenge with ease.

The manager rang the changes, enacting seven of them to his XI. The match could and maybe should have been decided earlier than it actually was, with both Estêvão Willian and the forward at fault for missing glorious chances to put Chelsea ahead in the first half.

However, luckily for the visitors, Pedro Neto was in a far more clinical frame of mind. He broke the scoring with a marvellous long-range strike, which proved to be the spark for Chelsea to take command of proceedings. By full time, they had four, with Neto scoring a trio of them for a brilliant three-goal haul.

Delap's Redemption and Influence

The home side displayed great fight all game, but the clearer chances always came to the visitors. Estêvão should have broken the deadlock when he went past goalkeeper the Hull stopper before unbelievably firing over. The striker then had a comparable horror incident in front of goal against his old team.

He deflected a Phillips's kick which bounced off the crossbar, and he began to run away thinking the ball had crossed the line. It had not, and by the time he realised, Hull's defenders had responded to clear the danger.

The player had his head in his hands after that miss, but he was immensely instrumental from that point onward, registering three key passes. The opening was for the first goal as his pass teed up Neto to finish from outside the box. Shortly after the restart, it was 2-0 as the forward's set-piece went directly in through the keeper's legs.

Contest Put Beyond Doubt and Attention Shifts

Soon after the second goal, the tie was effectively ended as a dazzling run from the forward teed up his teammate to tap into an empty net. Neto then completed his treble as the provider once again delivered the crucial pass for the attacker to coolly convert past a helpless Phillips.

At that point, the effort Hull had done in the first half-hour had been forgotten. Their focus must now switch back to achieving a promotion to the top division under their manager, who rested a number of key individuals 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 strong situation in the Championship," he said. "Never surrender, maybe in the upcoming matches this can be a good lesson of how we must play."

There was great endeavour to the end, and they almost claimed a consolation when a substitute hit a post in stoppage time. But this was Chelsea’s night, and another positive step forward for their new manager at a place he knows intimately.

FA Cup History Are Promising

The result resulted in an in the end routine evening’s work, and the cup competition omens are good from here for the winners. They have played Hull on three previous occasions in this competition in the past ten years and on each occasion, they have gone on to reach the showpiece. Much remains to be work in that regard, but this was another huge tick for the Chelsea boss.