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Against a backdrop of sleet, flurries, and a biting breeze off the banks of the Humber, alongside a resolute Hull City side fighting for a top-flight place, this had all the makings of a difficult night's task for the visitors.

"We could have scored more but Hull are a strong team and it was a difficult tie; I’m delighted with the display," the manager stated. "This club means a lot to me so it was nice to get a good welcome from both sets of fans. The attitude of the lads was excellent."

Liam Chelsea manager has this place close to his heart, considering some of his family hail from Hull and his enjoyable spell in management of the Championship club. His happy connection continued with a magnificent performance from his squad, who in the end strolled into the next round of the FA Cup.

Clinical Edge Seals Comfortable Win

Three days after letting slip a two-goal lead in the Premier League, there was a hint of vulnerability about them going into this potentially tricky tie. The capacity Hull crowd clearly sensed it too, but the London side navigated the task perfectly.

The manager made alterations, enacting multiple of them to his starting lineup. The match might and perhaps should have been decided long before it eventually was, with two Estêvão Willian and Liam Delap guilty of spurning excellent opportunities to put Chelsea ahead in the opening period.

However, fortunately for the away team, their Portuguese attacker was in a far more clinical mood. He broke the scoring with a spectacular long-range strike, which acted as the spark for his team to assume control of the match. By full time, they had 4 goals, with the forward scoring a trio of them for a brilliant three-goal haul.

Delap's Response and Influence

The home side displayed great fight throughout, but the clearer chances always came Chelsea’s way. The winger 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 old team.

He deflected a Phillips's clearance which bounced off the crossbar, and Delap started to celebrate believing the ball had crossed the line. It hadn’t, and by the time he understood, Hull's defenders had responded to clear the danger.

Delap had his head in his hands after that miss, but he was hugely influential from there on out, providing three key passes. The first was for the first goal as his pass teed up his teammate to finish from outside the box. Six minutes after the restart, it was 2-0 as Neto's corner went directly in through the keeper's legs.

Tie Sealed and Focus Turns

Soon after Neto’s second goal, the match was effectively ended as a magnificent dribble from Delap teed up his teammate to tap into an unguarded goal. The hat-trick hero then finished his treble as Delap once again delivered the crucial ball for the striker to calmly convert by a helpless Phillips.

At that point, the work Hull had put in in the opening thirty minutes had been erased. Their focus must now switch back to achieving a promotion to the top division under their manager, who left out a number of first-choice individuals with that aim in mind.

"I think we deserved at least one goal but if we perform like this we will be in a strong situation in the Championship," the Hull manager commented. "Keep fighting, maybe in the next games this can be a good example of how we should play."

There was great effort to the final whistle, and they nearly got a consolation when Lewis Koumas struck a the upright in injury time. But this was Chelsea’s evening, and another positive step forward for their recently-appointed manager at a place he knows intimately.

Cup Omens Are Good

That resulted in an in the end routine night's performance, and the FA Cup-shaped omens are positive from here for Chelsea. They have played Hull on three other times in this competition in the last decade and on each occasion, they have gone on to make the showpiece. Much remains to be work in that regard, but this was another significant positive for Rosenior.