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Amid sleet, snow, and a swirling breeze off the banks of the Humber Estuary, combined with a resolute Hull City side pushing hard for promotion, this presented all the makings of a difficult evening’s task 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 display," he said. "This club means a lot to me so it was nice to get a good welcome from the fans of supporters. The attitude of the players was excellent."

The Rosenior has this city dear to him, given some of his relatives are from Hull and his enjoyable spell in management of the Championship club. This positive association was extended with a magnificent display from his squad, who ultimately sauntered into the next round of the FA Cup.

Deadly Finishing Secures Comprehensive Win

Seventy-two hours after surrendering a 2-0 lead in the Premier League, there was a hint of vulnerability about them going into this intriguing tie. The capacity Hull crowd evidently felt it too, but Rosenior's men handled the challenge with ease.

The manager made alterations, enacting seven of them to his starting lineup. The tie could and maybe should have been decided earlier than it eventually was, with two Estêvão Willian and Liam Delap at fault for missing excellent opportunities to put Chelsea in front in the first half.

But, luckily for the away team, their Portuguese attacker was in a much more ruthless frame of mind. He opened the scoring with a spectacular long-range effort, which proved to be the catalyst for Chelsea to take command of proceedings. By the final whistle, they had four, with Neto netting a trio of them for a superb three-goal haul.

The Forward's Redemption and Influence

The home side displayed plenty of fight throughout, but the clearer chances always fell to the visitors. Estêvão should have broken the scoring when he rounded keeper the Hull stopper before inexplicably firing over. Delap then had a similar horror moment in front of goal against his former club.

He deflected a Phillips's clearance which came back from the bar, and he began to run away believing the ball had gone over the line. It had not, and by the time he understood, Hull's backline had reacted to clear the danger.

Delap had his head in his hands after that moment, but he was immensely influential from that point onward, registering 3 assists. The opening was for the opening goal as his through ball set up Neto to finish from range. Shortly after the second half began, it was two as Neto's corner went directly in under the keeper's legs.

Contest Sealed and Focus Shifts

Soon after the second, the tie was put beyond doubt as a magnificent run from the forward teed up his teammate to slide into an unguarded goal. Neto then completed his treble as Delap once again played the crucial ball for the striker to coolly convert past a helpless Phillips.

At that point, the effort Hull had put in in the opening thirty minutes had long since forgotten. Their focus must now return to securing a promotion to the top division under Sergej Jakirovic, who left out a number of first-choice individuals with that goal in mind.

"I think we deserved at least one goal but if we perform like this we will be in a strong position in the league," the Hull manager commented. "Never surrender, maybe in the upcoming games this can be a good example of how we must play."

There was great endeavour to the end, and they nearly got a consolation when a substitute hit a post in injury time. But this was Chelsea’s evening, and another encouraging step forward for their recently-appointed manager at a place he knows very well.

FA Cup History Look Promising

The result resulted in an in the end routine evening’s performance, and the FA Cup-shaped signs are good from here for Chelsea. They have played Hull on three previous occasions in this competition in the past ten years and every single time, they have gone on to reach the final. There is still done in that respect, but this was another significant tick for the Chelsea boss.