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Amid sleet, flurries, and a swirling breeze off the waters of the Humber Estuary, alongside a determined home side pushing hard for a top-flight place, this had 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 tough fixture; I am delighted with the performance," the manager stated. "This club means a lot to me so it was nice to get a positive welcome from both sets of fans. The attitude of the lads was superb."

Liam Chelsea manager has this city close to his heart, given part of his relatives hail from Hull and his successful period in management of the Tigers. His happy connection continued with a commanding performance from his squad, who in the end strolled into the next round of the FA Cup.

Clinical Edge Secures Comfortable Victory

Seventy-two hours removed from surrendering a 2-0 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 made alterations, making seven of them to his XI. The tie might and perhaps ought to have been settled long before it actually was, with both Estêvão Willian and the forward guilty of missing excellent chances to put their side in front in the opening period.

However, luckily for the away team, their Portuguese attacker was in a much more clinical frame of mind. He opened the deadlock with a marvellous distance strike, which proved to be the catalyst for Chelsea to assume command of the match. By full time, they had four, with the forward scoring a trio of them for a superb three-goal haul.

Delap's Redemption and Influence

Hull showed plenty of fight throughout, but the clearer opportunities consistently came to the visitors. Estêvão should have opened the scoring when he went past goalkeeper the Hull stopper before unbelievably firing over. Delap then had a similar horror moment in front of goal against his old team.

He blocked a Phillips's kick which bounced back from the bar, and he started to run away believing the ball had crossed the line. It hadn’t, and by the time he realised, Hull's defenders had responded to clear the threat.

The player had his head in his hands after that moment, but he was immensely influential from that point onward, providing three key passes. The first was for the first goal as his through ball teed up Neto to score from range. Shortly after the restart, it was two as the forward's corner went straight in under the keeper's legs.

Contest Sealed and Attention Shifts

Seven minutes after Neto’s second goal, the match was effectively ended as a dazzling dribble from Delap teed up his teammate to tap into an unguarded goal. Neto then finished his treble as Delap again played the crucial pass for the striker to coolly convert past a helpless goalkeeper.

By that stage, the effort Hull had done in the first half-hour had long since erased. Their focus must now return to achieving a return to the Premier League under their manager, who rested a number of key players with that goal in mind.

"In my opinion we earned at least one goal but if we play like this we will be in a strong position in the Championship," he said. "Never surrender, maybe in the upcoming matches this can be a positive lesson of how we should play."

There was plenty of endeavour to the end, and they nearly got a late goal when a substitute hit a the upright in injury time. But this was Chelsea’s evening, and another positive step forward for their new head coach at a place he is familiar with very well.

FA Cup Omens Are Good

The result resulted in an ultimately straightforward evening’s performance, and the FA Cup-shaped signs are good from here for Chelsea. They have faced Hull on three previous occasions in this tournament in the last decade and on each occasion, they have gone on to reach the showpiece. There is still work in that respect, but this was another huge positive for the Chelsea boss.