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Amid sleet, flurries, and a swirling wind from the waters of the Humber Estuary, combined with a resolute home side fighting for a top-flight place, this presented all the ingredients of a difficult night's task for the visitors.

"We might have added to our tally but Hull are a strong team and it was a tough tie; I’m very pleased with the display," he said. "Hull City is very special to me so it was great to get a positive reception from the fans of supporters. The attitude of the lads was superb."

The Rosenior holds this place close to his heart, considering part of his relatives are from Hull and his enjoyable period in management of the Tigers. His positive association continued with a commanding performance from his team, who in the end sauntered into the next round of the FA Cup.

Deadly Edge Secures Comprehensive Victory

Three days removed from letting slip a two-goal advantage in the league, there was a sniff of fragility about Chelsea going into this intriguing tie. The packed home support evidently felt it too, but the London side navigated the challenge perfectly.

The manager made alterations, enacting multiple of them to his starting lineup. The match could and maybe should have been decided earlier than it actually was, with both the Brazilian winger and the forward guilty of spurning excellent chances to put their side in front in the first half.

But, fortunately for the away team, their Portuguese attacker was in a far more ruthless frame of mind. He broke the scoring with a spectacular distance strike, which proved to be the spark for Chelsea to take control of proceedings. By the final whistle, they had 4 goals, with the forward scoring a trio of them for a superb three-goal haul.

Delap's Redemption and Impact

The home side displayed plenty of spirit throughout, but the clearer chances always fell Chelsea’s way. Estêvão should have broken the scoring when he rounded goalkeeper the Hull stopper before unbelievably firing over. The striker then had a similar nightmare incident in front of goal against his old team.

He deflected a the goalkeeper's clearance which came back from the crossbar, and he started to celebrate believing the ball had gone over the line. It hadn’t, and by the time he understood, Hull's backline had reacted to avert the danger.

The player had his head in his hands after that miss, but he was hugely influential from that point onward, providing 3 assists. The opening was for the first goal as his through ball teed up his teammate to finish from outside the box. Six minutes after the restart, it was two as Neto's set-piece went directly in through the keeper's legs.

Tie Put Beyond Doubt and Attention Shifts

Soon after the second goal, the tie was put beyond doubt as a magnificent run from Delap laid on Estêvão to tap into an empty net. Neto then completed his hat-trick as Delap once again delivered the decisive ball for the striker to coolly slot by a stranded Phillips.

At that point, the work Hull had put in in the opening half-hour had long since erased. Their priority must now return to achieving a promotion to the Premier League under Sergej Jakirovic, who left out several first-choice individuals with that goal in mind.

"In my opinion we deserved at least one goal but if we perform like this we will be in a strong situation in the Championship," he said. "Never surrender, maybe in the next games this can be a positive example of how we should play."

Hull showed plenty of endeavour to the end, and they nearly got a late goal when Lewis Koumas hit a post in stoppage time. But this was the Blues' night, and another positive step forward for their new head coach at a place he knows intimately.

FA Cup Omens Are Promising

The result resulted in an in the end routine night's work, and the FA Cup-shaped signs are positive from here for the winners. They have played Hull on three previous occasions in this tournament in the last decade and on each occasion, they have progressed to reach the final. Much remains to be work in that regard, but this was another significant tick for Rosenior.