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Amid freezing rain, flurries, and a swirling breeze from the waters of the Humber Estuary, alongside a resolute Hull City side fighting for promotion, this had all the makings of a challenging evening’s task for the visitors.

"We could have added to our tally but Hull are a good team and it was a difficult tie; I’m very pleased with the display," he said. "Hull City is very special to me so it was great to get a good welcome from the fans of supporters. The application of the players was excellent."

Liam Rosenior holds this place dear to him, considering some of his family are from Hull and his enjoyable spell in charge of the Championship club. His happy association continued with a commanding display from his squad, who ultimately sauntered into the next round of the famous old competition.

Deadly Finishing Seals Comprehensive Victory

Three days after letting slip a two-goal advantage in the Premier League, there was a sniff of fragility about them going into this potentially tricky cup clash. The packed Hull crowd evidently felt it too, but Rosenior's men navigated the challenge perfectly.

Rosenior made alterations, enacting multiple of them to his starting lineup. The match could and maybe should have been decided earlier than it eventually was, with both the Brazilian winger and Liam Delap at fault for missing excellent chances to put their side ahead in the opening period.

But, fortunately for the visitors, Pedro Neto was in a much more ruthless mood. He opened the scoring with a spectacular long-range strike, which proved to be the catalyst for Chelsea to assume command of proceedings. By the final whistle, they had 4 goals, with Neto scoring three of them for a superb hat-trick.

Delap's Response and Influence

The home side showed great spirit all game, but the better chances consistently came Chelsea’s way. The winger ought to have broken the deadlock when he went past goalkeeper the Hull stopper before inexplicably shooting over. The striker then had a comparable horror moment in front of goal against his old team.

He deflected a the goalkeeper's clearance which bounced off the crossbar, and he began to run away thinking the ball had gone over the line. It had not, and by the time he realised, Hull's defenders had responded to avert the danger.

Delap had his head in his hands after that miss, but he was immensely instrumental from that point onward, providing three assists. The opening was for the opening goal as his through ball teed up Neto to finish from outside the box. Six minutes after the second half began, it was two as Neto's corner went straight in through Phillips's legs.

Tie Put Beyond Doubt and Focus Turns

Soon after the second, the tie was effectively ended as a magnificent run from Delap teed up Estêvão to slide into an unguarded goal. Neto then finished his treble as the provider again played the decisive pass for the striker to coolly slot past a stranded goalkeeper.

At that point, the effort Hull had done in the first thirty minutes had long since forgotten. Their priority must now return to securing a promotion to the top division under their manager, who rested several key individuals with that goal 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 Championship," the Hull manager commented. "Keep fighting, maybe in the upcoming matches this can be a positive lesson of how we must play."

There was plenty of effort to the final whistle, and they nearly claimed a late goal when a substitute 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.

Cup History Are Good

That resulted in an ultimately routine evening’s performance, and the FA Cup-shaped omens are positive from here for the winners. They have faced Hull on three previous times in this tournament in the past ten years and every single time, they have progressed to make the final. There is remains to be work in that regard, but this was another significant positive for Rosenior.