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Amid freezing rain, snow, and a biting wind off the waters of the Humber, alongside a resolute Hull City side fighting for promotion, this had all the makings of a difficult night's work for Chelsea.

"We could have scored more but the opposition are a strong team and it was a difficult tie; I’m very pleased with the display," the manager stated. "Hull City means a lot to me so it was nice to get a positive welcome from both sets of fans. The attitude of the players was excellent."

Liam Rosenior holds this city dear to him, considering part of his family are from Hull and his successful spell in management of the Championship club. This positive connection continued with a magnificent performance from his squad, who ultimately strolled into the next round of the FA Cup.

Deadly Edge Secures Comfortable Victory

Seventy-two hours after surrendering a two-goal advantage in the league, there was a hint of vulnerability about Chelsea going into this potentially tricky tie. The capacity Hull support evidently sensed it too, but Rosenior's men navigated the task perfectly.

Rosenior rang the changes, making multiple of them to his starting lineup. The tie might and maybe should have been settled long before it actually was, with two Estêvão Willian and the forward at fault for spurning glorious opportunities to put Chelsea in front in the first half.

But, fortunately for the visitors, their Portuguese attacker was in a far more clinical frame of mind. He opened the scoring with a spectacular long-range strike, which proved to be the catalyst for his team to take control of the match. By the final whistle, they had 4 goals, with Neto scoring a trio of them for a superb hat-trick.

The Forward's Redemption and Impact

The home side displayed plenty of spirit throughout, but the better opportunities consistently fell to the visitors. The winger should have opened the scoring when he went past keeper the Hull stopper before unbelievably shooting over. Delap then had a comparable horror moment in front of goal against his old team.

He deflected a the goalkeeper's clearance which bounced off the bar, and he started to run away thinking the ball had gone over the line. It had not, and by the time he realised, Hull's backline had reacted to clear the danger.

Delap had his head in his hands after that moment, but he was hugely instrumental from that point onward, providing 3 key passes. The opening was for the opening goal as his pass set up Neto to finish from outside the box. Shortly after the restart, it was 2-0 as the forward's set-piece went straight in under the keeper's legs.

Contest Sealed and Focus Turns

Soon after Neto’s second goal, the match was effectively ended as a dazzling dribble from Delap laid on Estêvão to slide into an unguarded goal. Neto then completed his treble as Delap once again delivered the decisive pass for the attacker to coolly convert past a stranded Phillips.

At that point, the work Hull had done in the opening half-hour had long since erased. Their focus must now return to achieving a return to the top division under Sergej Jakirovic, who left out several first-choice individuals with that aim in mind.

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

Hull showed great endeavour to the final whistle, and they almost got a late goal when Lewis Koumas hit a post in stoppage time. But this was the Blues' evening, and another positive step forward for their new manager at a place he knows intimately.

FA Cup Omens Look Promising

That made for an in the end straightforward evening’s work, and the cup competition omens are positive from here for the winners. They have faced Hull on three other times in this tournament in the last decade and every single time, they have gone on to make the showpiece. Much still work in that respect, but this was another huge tick for the Chelsea boss.