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Amid sleet, snow, and a biting wind off the waters of the Humber, alongside a determined Hull City side fighting for promotion, this had all the ingredients of a challenging evening’s task for Chelsea.

"We might have scored more but Hull are a strong team and it was a difficult fixture; I am delighted with the display," the manager stated. "Hull City means a lot to me so it was nice to get a positive welcome from both sets of supporters. The attitude of the players was excellent."

The Chelsea manager holds this city dear to him, given part of his relatives are from Hull and his enjoyable spell in charge of the Tigers. This positive connection continued with a commanding performance from his squad, who ultimately sauntered into the next round of the famous old competition.

Clinical Finishing Seals Comprehensive Victory

Three days removed from surrendering a two-goal lead in the league, there was a hint of vulnerability about them going into this potentially tricky cup clash. The packed Hull crowd clearly felt it too, but the London side handled the challenge with ease.

Rosenior rang the changes, enacting seven of them to his XI. The tie could and perhaps should have been settled earlier than it actually was, with both the Brazilian winger and Liam Delap guilty of spurning excellent opportunities to put their side ahead in the first half.

But, luckily for the visitors, Pedro Neto was in a much more ruthless mood. He broke the deadlock with a spectacular distance effort, which acted as the catalyst for his team to assume control of the match. By full time, they had four, with the forward scoring three of them for a brilliant hat-trick.

The Forward's Response and Impact

Hull displayed plenty of fight all game, but the clearer opportunities always came Chelsea’s way. Estêvão should have opened the scoring when he went past keeper the Hull stopper before inexplicably firing over. The striker then had a similar horror moment in front of goal against his former club.

He deflected a Phillips's kick which came off the crossbar, and he started to run away thinking the ball had gone over the line. It had not, and by the time he realised, Hull's defenders had reacted to clear the danger.

The player had his head in his hands after that miss, but he was hugely influential from that point onward, providing three key passes. The first was for the opening goal as his pass set up his teammate to finish from range. Six minutes after the restart, it was 2-0 as the forward's corner went directly in through Phillips's legs.

Contest Sealed and Attention Shifts

Seven minutes after Neto’s second goal, the tie was effectively ended as a dazzling dribble from the forward laid on Estêvão to slide into an unguarded goal. Neto then completed his hat-trick as Delap once again played the decisive pass for the striker to coolly slot by a stranded Phillips.

By that stage, the work Hull had done in the opening thirty minutes had been forgotten. Their focus must now return to securing a promotion to the Premier League under their manager, who rested a number of key individuals with that goal 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 league," he said. "Never surrender, maybe in the next games this can be a positive example of how we must play."

Hull showed great endeavour to the end, and they almost claimed a late goal when a substitute struck a the upright in stoppage time. But this was Chelsea’s evening, and another encouraging step forward for their recently-appointed manager at a stadium he is familiar with very well.

FA Cup History Look Good

That resulted in an in the end straightforward evening’s performance, and the cup competition omens are good from here for the winners. They have faced Hull on three previous times in this tournament in the past ten years and on each occasion, they have gone on to reach the showpiece. There is remains to be done in that regard, but this was another significant tick for the Chelsea boss.