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Against a backdrop of freezing rain, flurries, and a swirling wind off the waters of the Humber, combined with a resolute Hull City side fighting for promotion, this had all the makings of a challenging night's task for the visitors.

"We could have scored more but the opposition are a good team and it was a difficult fixture; I’m delighted with the performance," the manager stated. "This club is very special to me so it was nice to get a good reception from the fans of supporters. The attitude of the players was superb."

Liam Chelsea manager has this place dear to him, considering some of his family are from Hull and his enjoyable period in charge of the Tigers. His happy connection continued with a commanding display from his team, who ultimately sauntered into the next round of the FA Cup.

Deadly Edge Secures Comfortable Win

Seventy-two hours after surrendering a two-goal lead in the Premier League, there was a hint of fragility about them going into this potentially tricky cup clash. The capacity home support evidently sensed it too, but Rosenior's men navigated the challenge perfectly.

The manager rang the changes, enacting multiple of them to his XI. The tie might and perhaps ought to have been decided long before it eventually was, with two the Brazilian winger and Liam Delap guilty of missing glorious chances to put Chelsea ahead in the first half.

But, luckily for the away team, Pedro Neto was in a far more clinical mood. He broke the deadlock with a spectacular distance strike, which acted as the spark for his team to take command of the match. By full time, they had four, with Neto scoring three of them for a superb three-goal haul.

The Forward's Redemption and Influence

Hull displayed great fight all game, but the clearer opportunities always fell Chelsea’s way. The winger ought to have opened the scoring when he went past goalkeeper Dillon Phillips before unbelievably firing over. The striker then had a similar horror moment in front of goal against his former club.

He deflected a Phillips's clearance which came back from the bar, and he started to celebrate thinking the ball had gone over the line. It had not, and by the time he understood, Hull's defenders had reacted to avert the threat.

The player had his head in his hands after that moment, but he was immensely influential from there on out, registering 3 key passes. The first was for the opening goal as his pass set up Neto to finish from outside the box. Six minutes after the restart, it was two as Neto's set-piece went directly in under the keeper's legs.

Contest Sealed and Focus Turns

Soon after Neto’s second, the tie was effectively ended as a dazzling run from Delap teed up his teammate to slide into an empty net. Neto then completed his treble as Delap once again delivered the decisive ball for the striker to calmly slot past a helpless goalkeeper.

By that stage, the effort Hull had put in in the opening half-hour had been forgotten. Their priority must now return to achieving a promotion to the Premier League under Sergej Jakirovic, who rested several first-choice individuals with that goal 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 league," he said. "Keep fighting, maybe in the next matches this can be a positive lesson of how we must play."

There was plenty of endeavour to the final whistle, and they nearly claimed a consolation when Lewis Koumas hit a post in stoppage time. But this was Chelsea’s evening, and another positive stride for their new head coach at a stadium he knows intimately.

FA Cup History Look Promising

That resulted in an in the end straightforward evening’s work, and the cup competition signs are positive from here for Chelsea. They have played Hull on three previous times in this tournament in the past ten years and on each occasion, they have gone on to make the showpiece. Much still work in that respect, but this was another huge tick for Rosenior.