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Amid sleet, snow, and a biting breeze from the waters of the Humber Estuary, combined with a determined home side pushing hard for promotion, this had all the makings of a difficult night's work for the visitors.

"We could have added to our tally but the opposition are a good team and it was a tough fixture; I am very pleased with the display," he said. "This club is very special to me so it was nice to get a good welcome from both sets of supporters. The attitude of the players was excellent."

Liam Chelsea manager has this city dear to him, given some of his family are from Hull and his successful spell in management of the Championship club. His positive association continued with a commanding performance from his squad, who ultimately strolled into the next round of the FA Cup.

Clinical Edge Seals Comprehensive Win

Seventy-two hours removed from letting slip a 2-0 advantage in the league, there was a hint of vulnerability about them going into this intriguing tie. The packed Hull crowd clearly felt it too, but Rosenior's men navigated the task perfectly.

The manager rang the changes, enacting multiple of them to his starting lineup. The match could and maybe should have been decided earlier than it eventually was, with two Estêvão Willian and the forward at fault for spurning glorious chances to put Chelsea in front in the opening period.

But, fortunately for the away team, Pedro Neto was in a much more clinical mood. He broke the deadlock with a marvellous distance effort, which acted as the spark for his team to take command of proceedings. By the final whistle, they had 4 goals, with Neto netting three of them for a superb hat-trick.

Delap's Redemption and Impact

Hull displayed plenty of fight all game, but the clearer chances always came to the visitors. The winger ought to have broken the scoring when he went past goalkeeper Dillon Phillips before unbelievably shooting over. Delap then had a similar nightmare moment in front of goal against his old team.

He deflected a the goalkeeper's clearance which bounced back from the bar, and Delap started to run away believing the ball had gone over the line. It hadn’t, and by the time he realised, Hull's backline had responded to avert the threat.

Delap had his head in his hands after that moment, but he was immensely instrumental from there on out, providing 3 key passes. The first was for the opening goal as his through ball set up Neto to finish from outside the box. Shortly after the restart, it was two as the forward's corner went straight in under Phillips's legs.

Tie Sealed and Attention Shifts

Soon after the second, the tie was effectively ended as a magnificent dribble from Delap laid on Estêvão to slide into an empty net. Neto then finished his hat-trick as the provider again played the decisive pass for the attacker to calmly slot by a helpless Phillips.

By that stage, the effort Hull had done in the opening half-hour had long since erased. Their focus must now switch back to achieving a promotion to the top division under Sergej Jakirovic, who left out a number of key players with that goal in mind.

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

Hull showed great endeavour to the end, and they nearly claimed a late goal when Lewis Koumas hit a post in injury time. But this was the Blues' night, and another encouraging step forward for their new head coach at a stadium he is familiar with intimately.

Cup Omens Look Good

The result made for an in the end straightforward night's work, and the FA Cup-shaped signs are good from here for Chelsea. They have faced Hull on three previous times in this competition in the last decade and every single time, they have gone on to make the final. Much remains to be work in that respect, but this was another significant tick for the Chelsea boss.