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Amid sleet, flurries, and a biting breeze off the banks of the Humber, alongside a resolute home side fighting for a top-flight place, this presented all the ingredients of a difficult evening’s task for Chelsea.

"We might have added to our tally but the opposition are a good team and it was a difficult fixture; I am very pleased with the performance," the manager stated. "Hull City is very special to me so it was nice to get a good reception from both sets of supporters. The attitude of the players was superb."

Liam Rosenior holds this place dear to him, considering some of his relatives hail from Hull and his successful spell in management of the Tigers. This positive connection was extended with a magnificent display from his squad, who in the end sauntered into the next round of the FA Cup.

Clinical Finishing Seals Comfortable Victory

Three days after letting slip a two-goal advantage in the Premier League, there was a sniff of fragility about them going into this potentially tricky cup clash. The capacity home support evidently felt it too, but Rosenior's men navigated the challenge perfectly.

The manager rang the changes, making multiple of them to his XI. The match could and perhaps should have been decided long before it actually was, with two the Brazilian winger and the forward at fault for missing excellent opportunities to put their side ahead in the opening period.

But, fortunately for the visitors, their Portuguese attacker was in a far more ruthless frame of mind. He broke the deadlock with a marvellous distance effort, which acted as the spark for his team to take command of proceedings. By full time, they had 4 goals, with the forward scoring a trio of them for a superb hat-trick.

Delap's Redemption and Impact

The home side displayed plenty of spirit all game, but the better opportunities consistently fell Chelsea’s way. The winger ought to have opened the deadlock when he rounded goalkeeper Dillon Phillips before inexplicably firing over. The striker then had a similar horror incident in front of goal against his former club.

He deflected a Phillips's clearance which came off the bar, and Delap 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 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 pass teed up his teammate to finish from outside the box. Shortly after the restart, it was 2-0 as Neto's corner went straight in under Phillips's legs.

Tie Sealed and Attention Turns

Soon after Neto’s second goal, the match was put beyond doubt as a magnificent dribble from Delap teed up his teammate to slide into an unguarded goal. The hat-trick hero then finished his treble as Delap again played the crucial ball for the striker to coolly convert past a stranded goalkeeper.

By that stage, the effort Hull had done in the first thirty minutes had long since erased. Their focus must now switch back to achieving a return to the Premier League under their manager, who left out several key individuals with that goal in mind.

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

There was great endeavour to the end, and they nearly got a consolation when Lewis Koumas hit a post in stoppage time. But this was the Blues' evening, and another encouraging stride for their recently-appointed head coach at a place he is familiar with very well.

FA Cup Omens Are Good

That made for an in the end straightforward evening’s work, and the FA Cup-shaped signs are good from here for the winners. They have faced Hull on three previous times in this competition in the last decade and every single time, they have progressed to reach the showpiece. There is still work in that regard, but this was another significant tick for Rosenior.