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Against a backdrop of sleet, snow, and a biting breeze off the waters of the Humber Estuary, alongside a determined Hull City side pushing hard for a top-flight place, this presented all the ingredients of a challenging night's work for the visitors.

"We might have added to our tally but the opposition are a strong team and it was a difficult tie; I am delighted with the performance," the manager stated. "This club means a lot to me so it was great to get a positive welcome from both sets of fans. The attitude of the lads was excellent."

Liam Rosenior holds this place close to his heart, given some of his relatives hail from Hull and his enjoyable period in charge of the Tigers. This happy association continued with a commanding performance from his team, who ultimately sauntered into the next round of the famous old competition.

Deadly Edge Seals Comfortable Victory

Seventy-two hours after surrendering a two-goal advantage in the Premier League, there was a sniff of fragility about Chelsea going into this intriguing cup clash. The packed Hull support evidently sensed it too, but the London side handled the task perfectly.

Rosenior rang the changes, enacting multiple of them to his starting lineup. The tie might and maybe ought to have been decided earlier than it eventually was, with both the Brazilian winger and Liam Delap at fault for spurning glorious opportunities to put their side in front in the first half.

However, fortunately for the visitors, Pedro Neto was in a much more clinical frame of mind. He opened the deadlock with a marvellous long-range strike, which proved to be the catalyst for Chelsea to assume control of the match. By full time, they had four, with the forward netting a trio of them for a superb three-goal haul.

The Forward's Response and Impact

The home side displayed plenty of spirit throughout, but the better opportunities always came to the visitors. Estêvão ought to have opened the deadlock when he rounded goalkeeper Dillon Phillips before unbelievably shooting over. Delap then had a comparable nightmare incident in front of goal against his old team.

He blocked a Phillips's kick which bounced off the crossbar, and he began to run away believing the ball had gone over the line. It hadn’t, and by the time he realised, Hull's backline had reacted to avert the danger.

The player had his head in his hands after that miss, but he was hugely influential from there on out, registering three assists. The first was for the opening goal as his through ball teed up his teammate to finish from outside the box. Six minutes after the second half began, it was 2-0 as Neto's set-piece went directly in under Phillips's legs.

Contest Sealed and Attention Shifts

Seven minutes after Neto’s second, the tie was effectively ended as a dazzling run from Delap laid on his teammate to slide into an unguarded goal. Neto then finished his treble as Delap once again played the crucial pass for the attacker to calmly convert by a helpless Phillips.

By that stage, the effort Hull had put in in the first thirty minutes had been erased. Their focus must now switch back to achieving a return to the Premier League under Sergej Jakirovic, who left out a number of key individuals with that aim in mind.

"I think we earned at least one goal but if we play like this we will be in a strong situation in the Championship," the Hull manager commented. "Keep fighting, maybe in the next matches this can be a positive lesson of how we must play."

Hull showed plenty of endeavour to the final whistle, and they nearly claimed a late goal when a substitute hit a the upright in injury time. But this was the Blues' night, and another positive step forward for their new head coach at a stadium he is familiar with very well.

Cup History Look Promising

That made for an in the end routine evening’s work, and the FA Cup-shaped omens are positive from here for the winners. They have played Hull on three previous times in this competition in the last decade and on each occasion, they have progressed to make the final. Much still done in that regard, but this was another huge positive for the Chelsea boss.