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Amid freezing rain, snow, and a biting breeze from the waters of the Humber, alongside a resolute Hull City side fighting for promotion, this presented all the ingredients of a challenging evening’s work for the visitors.

"We might have added to our tally but the opposition are a strong team and it was a tough tie; I’m very pleased with the performance," the manager stated. "Hull City is very special to me so it was great to get a good reception from both sets of supporters. The attitude of the players was excellent."

Liam Rosenior holds this city dear to him, given some of his relatives hail from Hull and his successful period in charge of the Tigers. His positive association continued with a commanding performance from his squad, who ultimately strolled into the next round of the famous old competition.

Deadly Finishing Seals Comprehensive Win

Seventy-two hours after surrendering a two-goal lead in the league, there was a sniff of fragility about them going into this potentially tricky tie. The capacity home support clearly sensed it too, but Rosenior's men handled the task perfectly.

Rosenior rang the changes, enacting seven of them to his starting lineup. The tie could and maybe should have been decided earlier than it actually was, with both Estêvão Willian and Liam Delap guilty of spurning excellent chances to put their side in front in the opening period.

But, fortunately for the away team, Pedro Neto was in a far more ruthless mood. He opened the scoring with a spectacular distance strike, which proved to be the spark for Chelsea to assume control of the match. By the final whistle, they had 4 goals, with Neto scoring three of them for a brilliant three-goal haul.

Delap's Redemption and Impact

Hull displayed plenty of spirit all game, but the clearer opportunities always fell to the visitors. Estêvão ought to have broken the deadlock when he went past goalkeeper the Hull stopper before inexplicably firing over. Delap then had a similar horror moment in front of goal against his old team.

He deflected a Phillips's clearance which came back from the bar, and Delap began to celebrate 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 immensely instrumental from that point onward, providing 3 assists. The opening was for the first goal as his through ball teed up Neto to score from outside the box. Shortly after the second half began, it was two as Neto's corner went directly in through the keeper's legs.

Tie Put Beyond Doubt and Attention Shifts

Seven minutes after the second, the tie was effectively ended as a dazzling dribble from Delap teed up his teammate to tap into an empty net. The hat-trick hero then finished his hat-trick as Delap once again delivered the decisive ball for the striker to calmly slot by a stranded goalkeeper.

At that point, the effort Hull had put in in the opening half-hour had long since erased. Their focus must now switch back to achieving a promotion to the top division under their manager, who rested several first-choice players with that aim in mind.

"In my opinion we earned at least one goal but if we perform like this we will be in a strong situation in the Championship," he said. "Never surrender, maybe in the next games this can be a positive lesson of how we should play."

Hull showed plenty of endeavour to the final whistle, and they nearly got a consolation when Lewis Koumas struck a post in injury time. But this was Chelsea’s night, and another encouraging step forward for their new manager at a stadium he knows intimately.

FA Cup Omens Are Promising

That made for an ultimately routine night's performance, and the cup competition omens are good from here for the winners. They have faced Hull on three previous times in this competition in the last decade and on each occasion, they have progressed to make the final. There is still done in that respect, but this was another significant tick for Rosenior.