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Against a backdrop of freezing rain, snow, and a swirling wind off the banks of the Humber Estuary, combined with a resolute Hull City side pushing hard for promotion, this presented all the ingredients of a challenging night's work for the visitors.

"We could have scored more but Hull are a strong team and it was a difficult tie; I am very pleased with the performance," the manager stated. "This club means a lot to me so it was nice to get a good welcome from the fans of supporters. The application of the lads was superb."

The Chelsea manager holds this city dear to him, given some of his relatives hail from Hull and his enjoyable period in charge of the Championship club. His positive association was extended with a magnificent display from his squad, who in the end strolled into the next round of the famous old competition.

Clinical Edge Seals Comprehensive Win

Three days removed from letting slip a two-goal lead in the Premier League, there was a sniff of fragility about them going into this potentially tricky tie. The capacity home support evidently sensed it too, but the London side handled the challenge perfectly.

Rosenior rang the changes, making multiple of them to his XI. The match could and maybe should have been settled long before it eventually was, with both the Brazilian winger and the forward guilty of spurning excellent opportunities to put their side ahead in the first half.

But, fortunately for the away team, their Portuguese attacker was in a much more clinical mood. He broke the scoring with a marvellous long-range effort, which acted as the spark for his team to take command of the match. By the final whistle, they had four, with the forward netting a trio of them for a superb three-goal haul.

Delap's Response and Influence

The home side showed great spirit throughout, but the clearer chances always came to the visitors. Estêvão ought to have broken the deadlock when he went past goalkeeper Dillon Phillips before unbelievably firing over. Delap then had a similar nightmare incident in front of goal against his former club.

He deflected a the goalkeeper's clearance which came off the bar, and Delap started to celebrate believing the ball had crossed the line. It hadn’t, and by the time he realised, Hull's backline had responded to clear the threat.

The player had his head in his hands after that miss, but he was immensely influential from that point onward, providing 3 key passes. The first was for the first goal as his through ball set up Neto to score from range. Shortly after the second half began, it was two as the forward's set-piece went straight in through Phillips's legs.

Tie Put Beyond Doubt and Attention Turns

Soon after Neto’s second, the tie was put beyond doubt as a magnificent dribble from Delap laid on Estêvão to tap into an empty net. Neto then completed his treble as the provider again played the decisive ball for the striker to calmly convert by a stranded goalkeeper.

At that point, the work Hull had done in the first half-hour had long since forgotten. Their focus must now switch back to securing a return to the top division under their manager, who left out several key individuals with that aim in mind.

"In my opinion we deserved at least one goal but if we play like this we will be in a very good position in the Championship," the Hull manager commented. "Never surrender, maybe in the next matches this can be a positive lesson of how we should play."

There was great endeavour to the final whistle, and they nearly claimed a consolation when a substitute hit a the upright in stoppage time. But this was Chelsea’s night, and another encouraging step forward for their new manager at a place he knows very well.

FA Cup History Are Promising

That resulted in an ultimately straightforward evening’s work, and the FA Cup-shaped omens are good from here for the winners. They have faced Hull on three other occasions in this competition in the last decade and on each occasion, they have gone on to make the final. Much still done in that respect, but this was another huge tick for Rosenior.