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Amid freezing rain, snow, and a swirling breeze from the banks of the Humber Estuary, combined with a resolute Hull City side fighting for promotion, this had all the ingredients of a difficult night's work for Chelsea.

"We could have scored more but Hull are a good team and it was a tough fixture; I’m delighted with the performance," the manager stated. "This club is very special to me so it was great to get a good welcome from both sets of fans. The attitude of the lads was superb."

The Rosenior holds this city close to his heart, given some of his relatives hail from Hull and his enjoyable period in management of the Tigers. His positive association continued with a commanding performance from his team, who in the end strolled into the next round of the famous old competition.

Clinical Edge Seals Comfortable Win

Seventy-two hours removed from letting slip a two-goal advantage in the league, there was a sniff of fragility about them going into this intriguing tie. The capacity Hull support clearly sensed it too, but Rosenior's men navigated the challenge with ease.

The manager made alterations, enacting seven of them to his starting lineup. The tie might and perhaps should have been settled long before it actually was, with two Estêvão Willian and Liam Delap at fault for spurning glorious opportunities to put Chelsea in front in the opening period.

However, fortunately for the away team, Pedro Neto was in a much more ruthless frame of mind. He opened the scoring with a spectacular long-range effort, which acted as the catalyst for his team to assume control of the match. By full time, they had four, with Neto netting a trio of them for a brilliant hat-trick.

Delap's Response and Impact

The home side showed great spirit all game, but the clearer chances consistently came Chelsea’s way. The winger should have opened the scoring when he rounded keeper the Hull stopper before unbelievably firing over. The striker then had a similar nightmare moment in front of goal against his old team.

He blocked a Phillips's kick which bounced off the bar, and he started to run away believing the ball had gone over the line. It had not, and by the time he understood, Hull's backline had responded to clear the threat.

Delap had his head in his hands after that miss, but he was hugely instrumental from there on out, providing 3 key passes. The first was for the opening goal as his through ball teed up Neto to score from range. Six minutes after the second half began, it was 2-0 as Neto's corner went directly in under Phillips's legs.

Contest Sealed and Attention Turns

Seven minutes after the second goal, the match was put beyond doubt as a magnificent dribble from Delap teed up his teammate to tap into an empty net. Neto then completed his treble as Delap once again delivered the crucial pass for the attacker to calmly slot by a helpless Phillips.

At that point, the work Hull had done in the opening thirty minutes 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 players with that aim in mind.

"In my opinion we deserved at least one goal but if we play 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."

There was plenty of endeavour to the end, and they nearly got a consolation when a substitute hit a post in stoppage time. But this was Chelsea’s evening, and another encouraging stride for their new manager at a stadium he knows intimately.

Cup Omens Are Promising

The result resulted in an in the end routine evening’s performance, and the FA Cup-shaped signs are good from here for Chelsea. They have faced Hull on three other occasions in this tournament in the past ten years and every single time, they have progressed to make the final. Much remains to be work in that respect, but this was another significant positive for Rosenior.