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Against a backdrop of sleet, flurries, and a swirling breeze from the banks of the Humber, alongside a determined Hull City side fighting for a top-flight place, this had all the ingredients of a difficult evening’s work for the visitors.

"We might have added to our tally but the opposition are a strong team and it was a tough fixture; I’m delighted with the display," he said. "This club means a lot to me so it was great to get a positive welcome from both sets of supporters. The application of the lads was excellent."

Liam Chelsea manager has this place dear to him, given some of his relatives hail from Hull and his successful spell in charge of the Tigers. This happy connection continued with a commanding performance from his team, who in the end sauntered into the next round of the FA Cup.

Deadly Finishing Seals Comprehensive Win

Three days after letting slip a 2-0 lead in the league, there was a sniff of fragility about them going into this intriguing tie. The capacity home support evidently sensed it too, but the London side handled the task with ease.

The manager made alterations, making multiple of them to his XI. The tie could and maybe should have been settled earlier than it actually was, with both Estêvão Willian and the forward guilty of spurning glorious chances to put Chelsea ahead in the opening period.

However, fortunately for the away team, Pedro Neto was in a much more ruthless frame of mind. He broke the scoring with a spectacular long-range effort, which acted as the spark for his team to take command of proceedings. By the final whistle, they had 4 goals, with the forward scoring three of them for a brilliant hat-trick.

The Forward's Response and Impact

The home side showed great fight throughout, but the clearer chances consistently fell Chelsea’s way. Estêvão ought to have opened the scoring when he went past keeper Dillon Phillips before inexplicably shooting over. Delap then had a comparable nightmare moment in front of goal against his old team.

He blocked a Phillips's kick which came off the bar, and Delap began to celebrate thinking the ball had gone over the line. It hadn’t, and by the time he understood, Hull's defenders had responded to clear the threat.

Delap had his head in his hands after that moment, but he was immensely instrumental from that point onward, registering three assists. The first was for the first goal as his through ball teed up Neto to score from outside the box. Six minutes after the second half began, it was 2-0 as the forward's set-piece went straight in through Phillips's legs.

Contest Put Beyond Doubt and Focus Shifts

Seven minutes after the second goal, the match was effectively ended as a magnificent run from the forward laid on Estêvão to tap into an unguarded goal. Neto then finished his hat-trick as the provider again played the decisive ball for the striker to calmly slot by a helpless Phillips.

At that point, the work Hull had put in in the opening half-hour had been forgotten. Their priority must now switch back to achieving a promotion to the Premier League under Sergej Jakirovic, who left out several key players with that aim in mind.

"I think we earned at least one goal but if we play like this we will be in a strong position in the Championship," the Hull manager commented. "Never surrender, maybe in the next games this can be a good lesson of how we should play."

Hull showed plenty of endeavour to the end, and they almost got a consolation when a substitute hit a the upright in stoppage time. But this was the Blues' night, and another encouraging stride for their recently-appointed manager at a stadium he is familiar with very well.

Cup Omens Are Good

The result made for an ultimately routine night's performance, and the cup competition omens are good from here for Chelsea. They have played Hull on three other occasions in this competition in the last decade and on each occasion, they have gone on to reach the showpiece. There is remains to be done in that respect, but this was another huge tick for Rosenior.