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Against a backdrop of sleet, snow, and a swirling wind off the banks of the Humber, alongside a determined home side fighting for promotion, this presented all the ingredients of a challenging evening’s work for Chelsea.

"We could have added to our tally but Hull are a good team and it was a tough fixture; I am delighted with the display," he said. "Hull City means a lot to me so it was nice to get a positive welcome from the fans of fans. The application of the lads was superb."

Liam Chelsea manager has this city dear to him, considering some of his family are from Hull and his enjoyable period in charge of the Championship club. His happy connection was extended with a magnificent display from his squad, who ultimately strolled into the next round of the famous old competition.

Deadly Finishing Seals Comprehensive Victory

Three days removed from surrendering a 2-0 advantage in the league, there was a sniff of vulnerability about them going into this potentially tricky tie. The packed home support evidently felt it too, but the London side handled the challenge perfectly.

Rosenior made alterations, making multiple of them to his XI. The match might and perhaps ought to have been settled earlier than it eventually was, with two the Brazilian winger and the forward guilty of missing glorious opportunities to put Chelsea ahead in the opening period.

However, fortunately for the visitors, Pedro Neto was in a much more clinical frame of mind. He opened the scoring with a spectacular long-range effort, which acted as the spark for his team to take command of the match. By the final whistle, they had 4 goals, with the forward scoring a trio of them for a brilliant hat-trick.

Delap's Response and Impact

Hull showed great spirit throughout, but the better chances consistently fell Chelsea’s way. The winger ought to have opened the scoring when he went past keeper Dillon Phillips before inexplicably 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 bounced back from the bar, and Delap began to celebrate thinking the ball had crossed the line. It had not, and by the time he understood, Hull's backline had reacted to clear the threat.

The player had his head in his hands after that moment, but he was hugely instrumental from that point onward, providing three assists. The opening was for the opening goal as his pass teed up Neto to finish from range. Shortly after the restart, it was 2-0 as the forward's set-piece went straight in under Phillips's legs.

Contest Put Beyond Doubt and Focus Shifts

Seven minutes after Neto’s second, the tie was put beyond doubt as a dazzling dribble from the forward teed up his teammate to slide into an unguarded goal. The hat-trick hero then completed his hat-trick as Delap once again played the decisive pass for the striker to calmly slot past a stranded goalkeeper.

At that point, the effort Hull had done in the opening half-hour had long since forgotten. Their focus must now switch back to securing a promotion to the top division under Sergej Jakirovic, who rested a number of key players 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 good lesson of how we should play."

Hull showed great endeavour to the final whistle, and they almost claimed a late goal when a substitute struck a the upright in injury time. But this was Chelsea’s night, and another positive stride for their new head coach at a place he is familiar with intimately.

FA Cup History Are Good

That made for an ultimately straightforward evening’s work, and the cup competition signs 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 progressed to make the final. There is still work in that respect, but this was another huge positive for Rosenior.