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Amid freezing rain, flurries, and a biting breeze from the banks of the Humber Estuary, combined with a resolute home side fighting for promotion, this presented all the ingredients of a challenging evening’s task for the visitors.

"We could have scored more but Hull are a strong team and it was a tough fixture; I am very pleased with the display," he said. "This club means a lot to me so it was nice to get a positive reception from both sets of supporters. The attitude of the players was superb."

The Rosenior has this city dear to him, given part of his family are from Hull and his enjoyable spell in charge of the Tigers. His positive association continued with a commanding display from his team, who ultimately strolled into the next round of the famous old competition.

Deadly Finishing Secures Comprehensive Victory

Seventy-two hours after letting slip a two-goal advantage in the Premier League, there was a sniff of vulnerability about them going into this potentially tricky cup clash. The packed Hull support evidently felt it too, but the London side handled the challenge perfectly.

The manager made alterations, making seven of them to his XI. The tie might and maybe ought to have been settled long before it eventually was, with both Estêvão Willian and Liam Delap guilty of spurning excellent chances to put their side in front in the first half.

But, luckily for the away team, Pedro Neto was in a much more clinical frame of mind. He broke the scoring with a marvellous distance strike, which acted as the catalyst for Chelsea to assume command of the match. By the final whistle, they had four, with the forward scoring three of them for a superb hat-trick.

Delap's Redemption and Influence

The home side displayed great fight throughout, but the better opportunities consistently fell to the visitors. The winger ought to have broken the deadlock when he went past goalkeeper the Hull stopper before inexplicably firing over. Delap then had a comparable horror incident in front of goal against his former club.

He deflected a the goalkeeper's clearance which came off the crossbar, and he began to celebrate thinking the ball had gone over the line. It had not, and by the time he realised, Hull's backline had responded to avert the danger.

The player had his head in his hands after that moment, but he was hugely influential from that point onward, providing three key passes. The opening was for the opening goal as his through ball set up Neto to score from range. Shortly after the restart, it was two as the forward's corner went directly in through Phillips's legs.

Contest Sealed and Focus Turns

Seven minutes after Neto’s second, the match was effectively ended as a dazzling run from Delap teed up his teammate to slide into an unguarded goal. Neto then completed his treble as Delap again delivered the decisive ball for the attacker to coolly slot past a helpless goalkeeper.

At that point, the work Hull had done in the opening thirty minutes had been erased. Their focus must now return to achieving a promotion to the top division under their manager, who left out a number of first-choice individuals with that aim in mind.

"In my opinion we earned at least one goal but if we play like this we will be in a strong position in the Championship," he said. "Keep fighting, maybe in the next games this can be a positive example of how we should play."

Hull showed plenty of effort to the final whistle, and they nearly got a consolation when a substitute struck a post in stoppage time. But this was the Blues' night, and another encouraging stride for their recently-appointed head coach at a place he is familiar with very well.

Cup History Look Good

That resulted in an ultimately routine night's performance, and the FA Cup-shaped omens are positive 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 progressed to reach the showpiece. Much remains to be work in that respect, but this was another significant positive for Rosenior.