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Against a backdrop of sleet, snow, and a biting wind from the banks of the Humber, alongside a determined home side pushing hard for a top-flight place, this had all the makings of a difficult evening’s work for the visitors.

"We could have added to our tally but the opposition are a good team and it was a tough tie; I am very pleased with the performance," he said. "This club 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 superb."

Liam Chelsea manager holds this place close to his heart, considering part of his family hail from Hull and his enjoyable spell in management of the Tigers. His positive connection was extended with a commanding display from his team, who in the end sauntered into the next round of the famous old competition.

Deadly Finishing Secures Comfortable Victory

Seventy-two hours after surrendering a two-goal advantage in the Premier League, there was a sniff of vulnerability about them going into this intriguing tie. The capacity Hull support clearly felt it too, but Rosenior's men handled the task perfectly.

The manager made alterations, enacting seven of them to his XI. The tie could and maybe should have been decided long before it actually was, with both the Brazilian winger and Liam Delap guilty of missing glorious chances to put their side ahead in the opening period.

However, luckily for the away team, their Portuguese attacker was in a much more clinical mood. He broke the scoring with a marvellous long-range strike, which proved to be the spark for Chelsea to take command of proceedings. By the final whistle, they had 4 goals, with the forward scoring three of them for a superb three-goal haul.

Delap's Redemption and Influence

Hull displayed plenty of fight throughout, but the better opportunities consistently fell to the visitors. Estêvão should have broken the deadlock when he went past goalkeeper Dillon Phillips before unbelievably shooting over. The striker then had a similar horror moment in front of goal against his old team.

He blocked a Phillips's clearance which came off the bar, and he started to celebrate thinking the ball had crossed the line. It hadn’t, and by the time he understood, Hull's backline had reacted to avert the danger.

The player had his head in his hands after that moment, but he was immensely instrumental from that point onward, registering 3 key passes. The first was for the first goal as his pass teed up Neto to finish from outside the box. Shortly after the restart, it was two as Neto's set-piece went straight in under Phillips's legs.

Contest Put Beyond Doubt and Attention Shifts

Seven minutes after Neto’s second goal, the tie was effectively ended as a magnificent run from Delap teed up his teammate to tap into an empty net. The hat-trick hero then completed his treble as the provider once again played the decisive ball for the attacker to calmly slot by a helpless Phillips.

At that point, the work Hull had put in in the opening half-hour had been erased. Their priority must now switch back to securing a promotion to the Premier League under Sergej Jakirovic, who left out several first-choice players with that goal in mind.

"In my opinion we deserved 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 next matches this can be a positive example of how we must play."

There was plenty of endeavour to the final whistle, and they almost got a late goal when a substitute hit a the upright in stoppage time. But this was Chelsea’s night, and another positive step forward for their recently-appointed manager at a stadium he is familiar with very well.

Cup History Look Promising

The result resulted in an in the end straightforward evening’s work, and the FA Cup-shaped omens are good from here for Chelsea. They have faced Hull on three other occasions in this tournament in the last decade and every single time, they have gone on to reach the showpiece. There is still work in that respect, but this was another huge positive for Rosenior.