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Amid sleet, flurries, and a swirling breeze from the banks of the Humber Estuary, combined with a resolute home side fighting for promotion, this presented all the makings of a difficult evening’s work for the visitors.

"We could have scored more but the opposition are a strong team and it was a difficult fixture; I’m delighted with the display," he said. "This club 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 superb."

Liam Rosenior has this place close to his heart, considering part of his relatives hail from Hull and his enjoyable spell in charge of the Championship club. His happy association was extended with a magnificent performance from his squad, who ultimately sauntered into the next round of the FA Cup.

Clinical Finishing Secures Comprehensive Victory

Seventy-two hours after letting slip a two-goal lead in the Premier League, there was a sniff of vulnerability about Chelsea going into this intriguing cup clash. The capacity home support clearly felt it too, but the London side navigated the task perfectly.

Rosenior made alterations, enacting seven of them to his XI. The match could and maybe ought to have been settled long before it actually was, with two the Brazilian winger and the forward guilty of missing glorious chances to put their side in front in the first half.

But, luckily for the away team, their Portuguese attacker was in a far more clinical mood. He broke the scoring with a spectacular distance strike, which acted as the catalyst for Chelsea to assume control of the match. By full time, they had four, with Neto netting a trio of them for a brilliant hat-trick.

The Forward's Redemption and Impact

The home side showed great fight all game, but the clearer opportunities consistently came Chelsea’s way. Estêvão should have broken the deadlock when he went past goalkeeper the Hull stopper before inexplicably firing over. Delap then had a similar nightmare incident 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 believing the ball had crossed the line. It hadn’t, and by the time he understood, Hull's defenders had reacted to clear the threat.

The player had his head in his hands after that moment, but he was immensely influential from there on out, providing 3 key passes. The opening was for the first goal as his through ball set up Neto to score from outside the box. Shortly after the restart, it was two as the forward's set-piece went directly in under the keeper's legs.

Contest Sealed and Attention Shifts

Soon after Neto’s second goal, the tie was effectively ended as a magnificent run from the forward teed up his teammate to slide into an unguarded goal. Neto then completed his hat-trick as Delap once again delivered the crucial pass for the attacker to calmly convert by a helpless Phillips.

By that stage, the work Hull had done in the first half-hour had been erased. Their priority must now switch back to achieving a promotion to the top division under their manager, who left out several key players with that goal in mind.

"I think we earned at least one goal but if we perform like this we will be in a very good situation in the Championship," he said. "Keep fighting, maybe in the upcoming matches this can be a positive lesson of how we should play."

Hull showed great endeavour to the final whistle, and they nearly got a late goal when Lewis Koumas struck a the upright in injury time. But this was the Blues' night, and another encouraging step forward for their recently-appointed head coach at a stadium he knows intimately.

FA Cup Omens Are Promising

The result made for an ultimately routine evening’s performance, and the FA Cup-shaped omens are positive 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 gone on to reach the showpiece. There is still work in that respect, but this was another significant tick for the Chelsea boss.