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Amid sleet, flurries, and a swirling wind off the banks of the Humber, combined with a determined Hull City side fighting for promotion, this presented all the ingredients of a difficult night's task for the visitors.

"We might have added to our tally but the opposition are a strong team and it was a tough tie; I’m very pleased with the performance," the manager stated. "Hull City is very special to me so it was great to get a positive reception from the fans of supporters. The application of the players was superb."

The Chelsea manager holds this city close to his heart, considering some of his relatives are from Hull and his successful period in charge of the Tigers. This happy connection continued with a commanding display from his team, who ultimately strolled into the next round of the FA Cup.

Clinical Finishing Seals Comprehensive Victory

Three days removed from surrendering a two-goal lead in the Premier League, there was a hint of fragility about Chelsea going into this potentially tricky cup clash. The capacity Hull support clearly felt it too, but the London side navigated the task with ease.

Rosenior rang the changes, making multiple of them to his starting lineup. The match could and maybe ought to have been settled long before it actually was, with both the Brazilian winger and Liam Delap guilty of spurning glorious opportunities to put Chelsea in front in the first half.

But, fortunately for the visitors, their Portuguese attacker was in a much more ruthless mood. He opened the deadlock with a marvellous long-range strike, which proved to be the spark 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.

The Forward's Redemption and Impact

The home side displayed plenty of spirit all game, but the better opportunities always fell Chelsea’s way. Estêvão ought to have broken the scoring when he rounded keeper the Hull stopper before inexplicably shooting over. The striker then had a similar horror incident in front of goal against his former club.

He deflected a Phillips's clearance which bounced back from the crossbar, and Delap started to run away thinking the ball had crossed the line. It hadn’t, and by the time he realised, Hull's defenders had responded to avert the danger.

The player had his head in his hands after that miss, but he was immensely instrumental from that point onward, providing 3 key passes. The first was for the opening goal as his through ball set up his teammate to finish from range. Shortly after the restart, it was 2-0 as the forward's set-piece went directly in through Phillips's legs.

Tie Put Beyond Doubt and Attention Turns

Soon after Neto’s second, the match was put beyond doubt as a dazzling dribble from the forward laid on Estêvão to tap into an empty net. Neto then finished his hat-trick as the provider once again delivered the decisive ball for the striker to calmly convert by a helpless Phillips.

By that stage, the work Hull had done in the opening half-hour had been forgotten. Their priority must now return to achieving a return to the top division under their manager, who left out a number of first-choice individuals with that goal in mind.

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

There was plenty of endeavour to the final whistle, and they almost got a consolation when Lewis Koumas hit a the upright in injury time. But this was Chelsea’s night, and another encouraging stride for their new manager at a stadium he knows very well.

Cup History Are Promising

That made for an ultimately straightforward night's work, and the cup competition omens are good from here for Chelsea. They have faced Hull on three previous occasions in this competition in the last decade and every single time, they have gone on to make the showpiece. There is still done in that regard, but this was another huge positive for the Chelsea boss.