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Against a backdrop of freezing rain, snow, and a biting breeze off the banks of the Humber, alongside a determined home side pushing hard for a top-flight place, this had all the ingredients of a challenging night's task for Chelsea.

"We could have scored more but the opposition are a strong team and it was a difficult fixture; I’m delighted with the performance," the manager stated. "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 players was superb."

The Rosenior holds this place dear to him, given some of his relatives are from Hull and his successful spell in charge of the Tigers. His positive connection was extended with a commanding performance from his team, who ultimately sauntered into the next round of the famous old competition.

Clinical Finishing Secures Comprehensive Victory

Seventy-two hours after letting slip a 2-0 advantage in the league, there was a hint of fragility about Chelsea going into this intriguing tie. The packed home crowd evidently sensed it too, but Rosenior's men navigated the task perfectly.

Rosenior made alterations, enacting multiple of them to his starting lineup. The tie could and maybe ought to have been settled earlier than it eventually was, with two Estêvão Willian and the forward guilty of spurning glorious opportunities to put their side ahead in the first half.

But, fortunately for the away team, their Portuguese attacker was in a much more clinical mood. He opened the deadlock with a spectacular distance strike, which acted as the catalyst for Chelsea to take control of the match. By the final whistle, they had four, with the forward netting a trio of them for a brilliant three-goal haul.

The Forward's Response and Impact

The home side showed plenty of fight throughout, but the clearer chances always came to the visitors. The winger ought to have broken the scoring when he rounded keeper the Hull stopper before inexplicably firing over. The striker then had a similar nightmare incident in front of goal against his former club.

He blocked a Phillips's kick which came back from the crossbar, and Delap started to run away believing the ball had gone over the line. It had not, and by the time he realised, Hull's backline had responded to avert the danger.

The player had his head in his hands after that moment, but he was immensely instrumental from that point onward, providing three key passes. The first was for the opening goal as his pass teed up his teammate to finish from outside the box. Six minutes after the restart, it was 2-0 as the forward's set-piece went straight in under Phillips's legs.

Tie Sealed and Focus Turns

Soon after Neto’s second, the match was effectively ended as a magnificent dribble from Delap teed up Estêvão to slide into an empty net. Neto then finished his hat-trick as the provider once again played the crucial ball for the striker to coolly slot by a stranded goalkeeper.

By that stage, the effort Hull had done in the opening thirty minutes had long since forgotten. Their priority must now switch back to securing a return to the Premier League under Sergej Jakirovic, who left out a number of key individuals with that goal in mind.

"In my opinion we earned at least one goal but if we perform like this we will be in a very good situation in the league," he said. "Never surrender, maybe in the next games this can be a good example of how we must play."

Hull showed great effort to the end, and they almost claimed a consolation when Lewis Koumas hit a the upright in stoppage time. But this was the Blues' night, and another positive stride for their recently-appointed manager at a stadium he is familiar with intimately.

Cup History Look Good

The result resulted in an in the end straightforward night's work, and the FA Cup-shaped signs are good from here for the winners. They have played Hull on three other occasions in this tournament in the past ten years and every single time, they have progressed to reach the final. There is still work in that regard, but this was another huge tick for Rosenior.