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Against a backdrop of sleet, flurries, and a swirling wind off the waters of the Humber Estuary, alongside a resolute home side pushing hard for promotion, this had all the makings of a difficult evening’s work for Chelsea.

"We might have added to our tally but the opposition are a strong team and it was a difficult tie; I am delighted with the display," the manager stated. "Hull City is very special to me so it was nice to get a positive reception from the fans of supporters. The attitude of the lads was superb."

The Rosenior holds this place dear to him, considering some of his relatives hail from Hull and his successful spell 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.

Deadly Edge Secures Comfortable Win

Three days after letting slip a two-goal advantage in the league, there was a hint of fragility about them going into this intriguing cup clash. The packed Hull support clearly sensed it too, but Rosenior's men handled the challenge perfectly.

The manager made alterations, enacting multiple of them to his XI. The tie could and perhaps should have been decided long before it actually was, with both the Brazilian winger and Liam Delap at fault for missing glorious chances to put their side ahead in the first half.

However, fortunately for the away team, Pedro Neto was in a far more ruthless frame of mind. He opened the scoring with a spectacular long-range effort, which acted as the spark for his team to take command of the match. By the final whistle, they had 4 goals, with the forward netting a trio of them for a brilliant hat-trick.

Delap's Redemption and Impact

The home side showed great fight all game, but the clearer chances always fell to the visitors. Estêvão should have broken the scoring when he rounded goalkeeper the Hull stopper before inexplicably firing over. Delap then had a comparable nightmare moment in front of goal against his old team.

He deflected a the goalkeeper's clearance which came off the crossbar, and Delap began to run away believing the ball had gone over the line. It had not, and by the time he understood, Hull's defenders had responded to avert the danger.

Delap had his head in his hands after that miss, but he was immensely instrumental from there on out, registering three assists. The first was for the opening goal as his through ball set up Neto to score from outside the box. Shortly after the second half began, it was two as the forward's set-piece went directly in through Phillips's legs.

Tie Sealed and Focus Turns

Seven minutes after Neto’s second goal, the match was effectively ended as a dazzling dribble from the forward laid on Estêvão to slide into an empty net. The hat-trick hero then finished his hat-trick as the provider again played the crucial pass for the striker to coolly convert past a stranded goalkeeper.

At that point, the work Hull had put in in the opening half-hour had long since forgotten. Their focus must now return to securing a return to the top division under their manager, who rested several 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 situation in the Championship," he said. "Keep fighting, maybe in the upcoming matches this can be a positive lesson of how we should play."

Hull showed great effort to the end, and they almost got a late goal when a substitute struck a the upright in stoppage time. But this was the Blues' evening, and another positive stride for their recently-appointed head coach at a stadium he is familiar with very well.

FA Cup History Look Promising

The result resulted in an in the end routine evening’s work, and the cup competition omens are positive from here for Chelsea. They have played Hull on three other occasions in this competition in the last decade and every single time, they have progressed to reach the final. Much still work in that regard, but this was another huge positive for the Chelsea boss.