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Against a backdrop of sleet, flurries, and a swirling wind from the waters of the Humber, alongside a determined home side fighting for promotion, this had all the ingredients of a challenging evening’s work for the visitors.

"We might have scored more but Hull are a good team and it was a tough tie; I’m delighted with the performance," he said. "This club means a lot to me so it was nice to get a good reception from the fans of supporters. The attitude of the lads was excellent."

The Rosenior holds this city dear to him, given some of his family hail from Hull and his enjoyable period in management of the Tigers. His happy association continued with a magnificent display from his team, who in the end strolled into the next round of the famous old competition.

Deadly Edge Seals Comfortable Win

Three days after surrendering a 2-0 lead in the Premier League, there was a hint of vulnerability about them going into this potentially tricky tie. The capacity Hull support evidently felt it too, but the London side navigated the challenge perfectly.

Rosenior made alterations, making seven of them to his XI. The tie might 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 their side ahead in the first half.

However, luckily for the visitors, Pedro Neto was in a far more clinical frame of mind. He opened the scoring with a marvellous long-range effort, which proved to be the catalyst for his team to take control of proceedings. By full time, they had four, with Neto netting a trio of them for a brilliant three-goal haul.

Delap's Response and Impact

Hull displayed great fight throughout, but the clearer chances always came Chelsea’s way. The winger should have opened the scoring when he rounded goalkeeper Dillon Phillips before inexplicably firing over. The striker then had a similar nightmare incident in front of goal against his old team.

He deflected a Phillips's kick which came off the bar, and Delap began to run away thinking the ball had crossed the line. It hadn’t, 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 moment, but he was immensely instrumental from there on out, registering three key passes. The opening was for the first goal as his pass set up Neto to score from outside the box. Shortly after the second half began, it was 2-0 as the forward's corner went straight in under Phillips's legs.

Contest Sealed and Focus Turns

Seven minutes after the second, the tie was put beyond doubt as a dazzling run from the forward teed up his teammate to tap into an empty net. Neto then finished his hat-trick as Delap again played the crucial ball for the striker to coolly slot by a helpless Phillips.

By that stage, the effort Hull had done in the opening half-hour had long since erased. Their focus must now return to achieving a promotion to the Premier League under their manager, who left out several first-choice players with that goal in mind.

"In my opinion we deserved at least one goal but if we perform like this we will be in a very good position in the Championship," the Hull manager commented. "Never surrender, maybe in the upcoming games this can be a positive lesson of how we should play."

Hull showed plenty of effort to the end, and they almost got a late goal when Lewis Koumas struck a post in injury time. But this was Chelsea’s night, and another positive step forward for their recently-appointed manager at a stadium he is familiar with intimately.

FA Cup Omens Are Good

The result resulted in an ultimately routine evening’s performance, and the FA Cup-shaped signs are positive from here for Chelsea. They have faced Hull on three previous occasions in this competition in the last decade and every single time, they have progressed to make the showpiece. Much still work in that respect, but this was another significant tick for Rosenior.