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Amid freezing rain, snow, and a swirling wind off the waters of the Humber Estuary, alongside a determined Hull City side pushing hard for promotion, this had all the makings of a challenging evening’s task for Chelsea.

"We might have added to our tally but Hull are a strong team and it was a difficult tie; I’m delighted with the display," 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 players was excellent."

The Chelsea manager has this city close to his heart, considering part of his relatives are from Hull and his successful spell in charge of the Championship club. His positive association was extended with a magnificent display from his team, who ultimately strolled into the next round of the famous old competition.

Clinical Edge Secures Comprehensive Win

Three days removed from letting slip a 2-0 advantage in the league, there was a hint of vulnerability about them going into this intriguing tie. The capacity Hull support evidently sensed it too, but Rosenior's men handled the challenge perfectly.

Rosenior made alterations, enacting multiple of them to his XI. The tie could and perhaps ought to have been decided earlier than it actually was, with both the Brazilian winger and the forward at fault for missing excellent chances to put Chelsea in front in the first half.

However, fortunately for the visitors, Pedro Neto was in a much more clinical mood. He opened the scoring with a spectacular long-range strike, which proved to be the catalyst for Chelsea to take command of proceedings. By full time, they had 4 goals, with the forward netting a trio of them for a brilliant hat-trick.

The Forward's Redemption and Influence

The home side displayed great fight all game, but the clearer opportunities consistently fell Chelsea’s way. The winger ought to have opened the deadlock when he rounded keeper the Hull stopper before inexplicably shooting over. The striker then had a similar nightmare moment in front of goal against his old team.

He deflected a Phillips's kick which bounced back from the bar, and Delap started to celebrate thinking the ball had crossed the line. It had not, and by the time he understood, Hull's backline had reacted to avert the threat.

The player had his head in his hands after that moment, but he was immensely influential from that point onward, registering three assists. The first was for the opening goal as his pass teed up his teammate to score from range. Six minutes after the restart, it was two as the forward's corner went straight in through Phillips's legs.

Contest Sealed and Attention Shifts

Soon after the second, the tie was put beyond doubt as a magnificent dribble from Delap teed up his teammate to tap into an empty net. Neto then finished his treble as Delap again played the decisive ball for the attacker to coolly slot past a stranded goalkeeper.

At that point, the effort Hull had done in the first thirty minutes had been forgotten. Their priority 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 perform like this we will be in a strong situation in the league," the Hull manager commented. "Never surrender, maybe in the next games this can be a positive lesson of how we should play."

Hull showed great endeavour to the final whistle, and they nearly claimed a late goal when Lewis Koumas struck a post in injury time. But this was the Blues' night, and another encouraging step forward for their recently-appointed head coach at a stadium he is familiar with intimately.

FA Cup Omens Look Promising

The result made for an ultimately straightforward evening’s work, and the FA Cup-shaped omens are good from here for the winners. They have played Hull on three previous occasions in this tournament in the past ten years and every single time, they have gone on to make the final. Much still done in that respect, but this was another huge positive for the Chelsea boss.