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Amid sleet, flurries, and a swirling wind off the waters of the Humber, combined with a resolute home side fighting for a top-flight place, this presented all the makings of a difficult night's work for Chelsea.

"We could have added to our tally but the opposition are a good team and it was a tough tie; I’m delighted with the display," he said. "This club is very special to me so it was nice to get a good welcome from both sets of supporters. The attitude of the players was excellent."

Liam Rosenior holds this place close to his heart, considering part of his relatives are from Hull and his successful spell in charge of the Championship club. This positive association continued with a commanding performance from his squad, who in the end sauntered into the next round of the FA Cup.

Clinical Edge Seals Comprehensive Victory

Seventy-two hours after letting slip a two-goal advantage in the league, there was a hint of fragility about Chelsea going into this intriguing tie. The packed Hull support clearly sensed it too, but the London side handled the task with ease.

Rosenior rang the changes, enacting multiple of them to his XI. The match could and maybe ought to have been decided earlier than it eventually was, with two Estêvão Willian and Liam Delap guilty of missing glorious opportunities to put their side ahead in the first half.

But, fortunately for the visitors, Pedro Neto was in a much more ruthless mood. He broke the deadlock with a spectacular distance strike, which proved to be the catalyst for Chelsea to take command of the match. By the final whistle, they had four, with the forward scoring three of them for a brilliant hat-trick.

The Forward's Response and Influence

Hull showed plenty of fight throughout, but the better opportunities always fell Chelsea’s way. The winger should have broken the scoring when he rounded keeper the Hull stopper before unbelievably firing over. The striker then had a comparable nightmare moment in front of goal against his old team.

He deflected a Phillips's clearance which bounced back from the crossbar, and Delap began to run away thinking the ball had crossed the line. It had not, and by the time he realised, Hull's backline had responded to avert the danger.

Delap had his head in his hands after that miss, but he was hugely instrumental from that point onward, registering three assists. The opening was for the opening goal as his through ball set up Neto to finish from outside the box. Six minutes after the restart, it was two as the forward's set-piece went straight in under Phillips's legs.

Tie Put Beyond Doubt and Attention Turns

Seven minutes after Neto’s second goal, the tie was effectively ended as a dazzling run from Delap teed up Estêvão to tap into an unguarded goal. Neto then completed his hat-trick as the provider once again delivered the decisive ball for the attacker to coolly slot by a helpless goalkeeper.

By that stage, the effort Hull had put in in the first half-hour had long since forgotten. Their priority must now switch back to achieving a return to the Premier League under Sergej Jakirovic, who rested a number of key players with that aim in mind.

"In my opinion we deserved at least one goal but if we play like this we will be in a strong position in the league," the Hull manager commented. "Never surrender, maybe in the upcoming matches this can be a good example of how we must play."

There was plenty of effort to the end, and they nearly got a consolation when Lewis Koumas struck a post in stoppage time. But this was Chelsea’s night, and another positive step forward for their new manager at a stadium he knows intimately.

FA Cup History Are Promising

That made for an ultimately straightforward evening’s work, and the FA Cup-shaped signs are good from here for Chelsea. They have played Hull on three previous times in this competition in the past ten years and on each occasion, they have gone on to reach the final. Much still work in that regard, but this was another significant tick for Rosenior.