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Against a backdrop of sleet, snow, and a biting wind off the banks of the Humber Estuary, combined with a determined Hull City side fighting for promotion, this presented all the makings of a difficult evening’s work for the visitors.

"We might have added to our tally but Hull are a strong team and it was a tough tie; I am very pleased with the performance," the manager stated. "This club means a lot to me so it was great to get a good welcome from both sets of supporters. The attitude of the lads was superb."

Liam Rosenior has this city dear to him, given some of his relatives are from Hull and his successful period in management of the Championship club. His happy connection continued with a magnificent performance from his team, who in the end strolled into the next round of the FA Cup.

Clinical Edge Secures Comfortable Win

Seventy-two hours removed from letting slip a two-goal advantage in the Premier League, there was a sniff of vulnerability about Chelsea going into this intriguing cup clash. The capacity Hull support evidently felt it too, but the London side navigated the challenge perfectly.

The manager rang the changes, making multiple of them to his XI. The tie could and perhaps should have been settled long before it actually was, with both Estêvão Willian and the forward guilty of spurning excellent chances to put Chelsea in front in the first half.

But, luckily for the visitors, their Portuguese attacker was in a much more ruthless mood. He broke the scoring with a marvellous distance effort, which proved to be the catalyst for his team to assume command of the match. By the final whistle, they had four, with the forward scoring a trio of them for a superb hat-trick.

The Forward's Response and Impact

The home side showed plenty of fight throughout, but the better chances always came Chelsea’s way. The winger should have broken the deadlock when he went past keeper Dillon Phillips before unbelievably firing over. The striker then had a comparable horror incident in front of goal against his former club.

He deflected a the goalkeeper's kick which came back from the bar, and he started to run away believing the ball had crossed the line. It had not, and by the time he understood, Hull's backline had reacted to clear the danger.

The player had his head in his hands after that miss, but he was hugely instrumental from that point onward, registering three key passes. The opening was for the opening goal as his pass set up Neto to score from range. Shortly after the restart, it was two as the forward's corner went straight in through Phillips's legs.

Contest Sealed and Focus Turns

Seven minutes after Neto’s second, the tie was put beyond doubt as a dazzling dribble from Delap teed up Estêvão to tap into an unguarded goal. The hat-trick hero then completed his treble as the provider again delivered the decisive ball for the striker to coolly slot past a stranded goalkeeper.

By that stage, the effort Hull had done in the opening half-hour had long since forgotten. Their priority must now return to achieving a promotion to the Premier League under Sergej Jakirovic, who left out a number of key individuals with that aim in mind.

"In my opinion we earned at least one goal but if we perform like this we will be in a very good position in the league," he said. "Keep fighting, maybe in the upcoming games this can be a positive example of how we should play."

There was plenty of effort to the final whistle, and they almost got a late goal when a substitute hit a the upright in stoppage time. But this was Chelsea’s evening, and another encouraging step forward for their new manager at a place he is familiar with very well.

FA Cup Omens Look Promising

The result made for an in the end straightforward evening’s work, and the FA Cup-shaped omens are positive from here for Chelsea. They have played Hull on three other times in this tournament in the past ten years and on each occasion, they have progressed to make the final. There is remains to be done in that regard, but this was another huge tick for the Chelsea boss.