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Against a backdrop of sleet, snow, and a biting breeze off the waters of the Humber Estuary, combined with a determined Hull City side fighting 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 good team and it was a tough fixture; I am very pleased with the performance," he said. "Hull City is very special to me so it was nice to get a good welcome from both sets of fans. The attitude of the lads was excellent."

The Rosenior holds this city dear to him, considering part of his family hail from Hull and his successful period in management of the Tigers. This happy association continued with a magnificent performance from his team, who in the end strolled into the next round of the FA Cup.

Deadly Edge Seals Comprehensive Win

Three days after letting slip a 2-0 lead in the Premier League, there was a hint of fragility about them going into this intriguing tie. The capacity Hull crowd clearly sensed it too, but the London side navigated the task perfectly.

The manager made alterations, making multiple of them to his XI. The tie could and maybe should have been settled earlier than it actually was, with two Estêvão Willian and the forward guilty of spurning glorious opportunities to put Chelsea in front in the opening period.

However, fortunately for the away team, their Portuguese attacker was in a much more ruthless mood. He broke the deadlock with a spectacular distance effort, which acted as the spark for Chelsea to take command of proceedings. By full time, they had 4 goals, with Neto scoring a trio of them for a brilliant three-goal haul.

Delap's Redemption and Impact

The home side displayed plenty of fight throughout, but the clearer opportunities consistently fell Chelsea’s way. Estêvão should have opened the scoring when he rounded keeper Dillon Phillips before inexplicably shooting over. The striker then had a comparable nightmare incident in front of goal against his former club.

He blocked a the goalkeeper's clearance which bounced back from the bar, and Delap started to celebrate thinking the ball had gone over the line. It hadn’t, and by the time he understood, Hull's backline had reacted to avert the danger.

Delap had his head in his hands after that miss, but he was immensely instrumental from that point onward, providing three key passes. The first was for the opening goal as his pass set up his teammate to score from outside the box. Shortly after the second half began, it was 2-0 as the forward's set-piece went straight in through Phillips's legs.

Tie Sealed and Focus Turns

Seven minutes after the second goal, the tie was put beyond doubt as a dazzling dribble from the forward teed up Estêvão to tap into an empty net. Neto then finished his hat-trick as the provider once again delivered the decisive pass for the attacker to calmly slot by a stranded goalkeeper.

At that point, the effort Hull had put in in the first half-hour had been forgotten. Their focus must now return to securing a return to the Premier League under Sergej Jakirovic, who left out a number of first-choice players with that goal in mind.

"I think we earned at least one goal but if we perform like this we will be in a very good situation in the Championship," the Hull manager commented. "Never surrender, maybe in the next games this can be a positive lesson of how we should play."

Hull showed plenty of endeavour to the final whistle, and they nearly claimed a consolation when a substitute struck a the upright in stoppage time. But this was Chelsea’s night, and another encouraging stride for their recently-appointed manager at a place he is familiar with very well.

FA Cup History Look Promising

That resulted in an in the end routine evening’s performance, and the FA Cup-shaped signs are good from here for Chelsea. They have faced Hull on three previous times in this competition in the last decade and every single time, they have gone on to make the showpiece. There is still work in that respect, but this was another significant positive for the Chelsea boss.