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Amid sleet, snow, and a biting breeze off the waters of the Humber, combined with a resolute home side pushing hard for promotion, this had all the ingredients of a challenging evening’s work for Chelsea.

"We might have added to our tally but the opposition are a good team and it was a tough fixture; I am delighted with the performance," he said. "Hull City means a lot to me so it was great to get a positive reception from both sets of supporters. The attitude of the lads was superb."

Liam Chelsea manager holds this place dear to him, considering some of his relatives hail from Hull and his successful period in management of the Championship club. His happy association continued with a magnificent performance from his squad, who ultimately strolled into the next round of the FA Cup.

Deadly Finishing Secures Comprehensive Victory

Three days removed from surrendering a two-goal lead in the league, there was a sniff of fragility about Chelsea going into this potentially tricky tie. The packed home crowd clearly sensed it too, but Rosenior's men handled the task with ease.

Rosenior made alterations, making seven of them to his XI. The match might and maybe should have been settled long before it eventually was, with two Estêvão Willian and Liam Delap guilty of missing glorious chances 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 opened the deadlock with a spectacular long-range strike, which acted as the spark for his team to assume command of proceedings. By full time, they had 4 goals, with the forward netting three of them for a superb three-goal haul.

The Forward's Response and Impact

Hull showed great spirit throughout, but the clearer opportunities consistently fell to the visitors. The winger ought to have opened the deadlock when he went past goalkeeper Dillon Phillips before unbelievably firing over. The striker then had a similar nightmare moment in front of goal against his old team.

He deflected a Phillips's kick which bounced back from the crossbar, and he started to celebrate thinking the ball had gone over the line. It had not, and by the time he understood, Hull's backline had responded to clear the threat.

The player had his head in his hands after that miss, but he was hugely instrumental from that point onward, providing 3 key passes. The first was for the opening goal as his through ball set up Neto to finish from range. Shortly after the restart, it was two as the forward's corner went straight in through the keeper's legs.

Tie Put Beyond Doubt and Focus Turns

Seven minutes after the second, the tie was effectively ended as a dazzling dribble from the forward teed up his teammate to slide into an unguarded goal. Neto then completed his treble as Delap again played the crucial ball for the attacker to calmly slot past a stranded Phillips.

By that stage, the effort Hull had done in the opening half-hour had been erased. Their focus must now switch back to achieving a return to the top division under their manager, who left out several key individuals with that goal in mind.

"I think we deserved at least one goal but if we play like this we will be in a very good position in the league," he said. "Keep fighting, maybe in the next matches this can be a good example of how we should play."

There was great endeavour to the final whistle, and they almost got a late goal when a substitute hit a the upright in injury time. But this was the Blues' evening, and another encouraging step forward for their recently-appointed head coach at a stadium he knows intimately.

Cup Omens Look Good

The result made for an ultimately straightforward evening’s performance, and the FA Cup-shaped omens are good from here for Chelsea. They have played Hull on three other times in this competition in the past ten years and every single time, they have progressed to make the showpiece. There is still work in that respect, but this was another significant tick for Rosenior.