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Amid freezing rain, snow, and a biting breeze from the banks of the Humber, alongside a determined home side pushing hard for a top-flight place, this presented all the makings of a difficult evening’s work for the visitors.

"We could have added to our tally but Hull are a strong team and it was a difficult tie; I am very pleased with the display," he said. "This club means a lot to me so it was nice to get a good welcome from both sets of fans. The application of the lads was excellent."

Liam Chelsea manager has this city close to his heart, considering part of his family hail from Hull and his enjoyable spell in management of the Championship club. This positive connection was extended with a magnificent performance from his squad, who ultimately sauntered into the next round of the FA Cup.

Clinical Finishing Secures Comfortable Win

Three days removed from letting slip a two-goal lead in the Premier League, there was a hint of vulnerability about them going into this intriguing tie. The capacity home support clearly sensed it too, but the London side handled the challenge perfectly.

Rosenior made alterations, enacting seven of them to his XI. The match could and maybe ought to have been decided long before it eventually was, with two Estêvão Willian and the forward guilty of spurning glorious chances to put their side ahead in the first half.

However, fortunately for the away team, Pedro Neto was in a much more clinical mood. He opened the scoring with a marvellous long-range effort, which proved to be the spark for Chelsea to assume command of proceedings. By the final whistle, they had four, with Neto scoring three of them for a brilliant three-goal haul.

Delap's Redemption and Impact

Hull showed plenty of fight throughout, but the clearer chances consistently came Chelsea’s way. The winger should have opened the deadlock when he went past keeper Dillon Phillips before inexplicably shooting over. Delap then had a comparable horror moment in front of goal against his former club.

He blocked a the goalkeeper's kick which bounced back from the crossbar, and he started to celebrate believing the ball had crossed the line. It hadn’t, and by the time he understood, Hull's backline had reacted to clear the danger.

Delap had his head in his hands after that moment, but he was immensely instrumental from there on out, registering 3 assists. The opening was for the first goal as his through ball set up Neto to score from range. Six minutes after the restart, it was two as the forward's corner went directly in under the keeper's legs.

Contest Sealed and Focus Shifts

Soon after Neto’s second, the match was effectively ended as a dazzling run from Delap laid on Estêvão to slide into an empty net. The hat-trick hero then completed his hat-trick as Delap again played the decisive pass for the attacker to calmly slot past a helpless goalkeeper.

At that point, the effort Hull had done in the opening half-hour had been erased. Their focus must now return to achieving a promotion to the Premier League under their manager, who rested a number of key players with that goal in mind.

"I think we deserved at least one goal but if we play like this we will be in a strong situation in the league," he said. "Never surrender, maybe in the next matches this can be a positive example of how we should play."

Hull showed great effort to the end, and they almost claimed a consolation when Lewis Koumas 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 stadium he knows very well.

FA Cup History Look Good

That resulted in an in the end straightforward night's work, and the cup competition omens are positive from here for Chelsea. They have played Hull on three other times in this competition in the last decade and every single time, they have progressed to make the final. There is still work in that respect, but this was another significant tick for the Chelsea boss.