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Amid freezing rain, flurries, and a biting breeze off the waters of the Humber, alongside a determined home side fighting for a top-flight place, this presented all the makings of a challenging night's work for Chelsea.

"We could have scored more but the opposition are a good team and it was a difficult tie; I am very pleased with the display," he said. "Hull City is very special to me so it was nice to get a good reception from the fans of supporters. The attitude of the lads was excellent."

The Chelsea manager has this place dear to him, given some of his relatives hail from Hull and his enjoyable spell in charge of the Tigers. His positive association continued with a commanding performance from his squad, who ultimately sauntered into the next round of the FA Cup.

Deadly Finishing Secures Comprehensive Victory

Three days after letting slip a 2-0 lead in the league, there was a hint of fragility about them going into this intriguing cup clash. The packed home support clearly sensed it too, but Rosenior's men handled the challenge with ease.

Rosenior made alterations, making seven of them to his starting lineup. The tie might and perhaps ought to have been decided long before it actually was, with both Estêvão Willian and the forward at fault for missing excellent opportunities to put Chelsea in front in the opening period.

However, fortunately for the away team, their Portuguese attacker was in a much more ruthless frame of mind. He opened the deadlock with a spectacular long-range strike, which acted as the catalyst for Chelsea to assume command of proceedings. By the final whistle, they had 4 goals, with the forward netting three of them for a brilliant hat-trick.

The Forward's Response and Influence

The home side displayed great fight throughout, but the better chances consistently fell Chelsea’s way. Estêvão ought to have broken the deadlock when he rounded keeper the Hull stopper before unbelievably shooting over. Delap then had a comparable horror moment in front of goal against his former club.

He blocked a Phillips's clearance which bounced off the crossbar, and Delap started to celebrate thinking the ball had crossed the line. It hadn’t, and by the time he realised, Hull's backline had reacted to avert the danger.

Delap had his head in his hands after that miss, but he was immensely instrumental from there on out, providing 3 assists. The opening was for the opening goal as his through ball set up Neto to finish from range. Shortly after the second half began, it was two as the forward's corner went straight in under the keeper's legs.

Contest Sealed and Focus Shifts

Seven minutes after the second goal, the tie was put beyond doubt as a magnificent dribble from Delap laid on his teammate to tap into an unguarded goal. Neto then finished his treble as the provider once again delivered the decisive ball for the striker to calmly slot by a stranded goalkeeper.

At that point, the work Hull had done in the opening half-hour had long since forgotten. Their priority must now switch back to securing a return to the top division under their manager, 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 Championship," the Hull manager commented. "Never surrender, maybe in the upcoming matches this can be a positive lesson of how we must play."

There was great endeavour to the end, and they almost got a consolation when a substitute hit a post in stoppage time. But this was Chelsea’s evening, and another positive stride for their new manager at a stadium he knows very well.

Cup Omens Look Promising

That resulted in an ultimately straightforward evening’s performance, and the cup competition omens are positive from here for Chelsea. They have played Hull on three other occasions in this competition in the past ten years and every single time, they have gone on to make the showpiece. Much still done in that respect, but this was another huge positive for Rosenior.