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Against a backdrop of freezing rain, snow, and a swirling wind from the waters of the Humber Estuary, alongside a determined Hull City side pushing hard for promotion, this presented all the ingredients of a challenging evening’s task for the visitors.

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

The Chelsea manager holds this place dear to him, given part of his relatives hail from Hull and his enjoyable period in charge of the Tigers. This positive association continued with a magnificent display from his team, who in the end strolled into the next round of the famous old competition.

Deadly Finishing Secures Comprehensive Win

Seventy-two hours removed from letting slip a 2-0 lead in the league, there was a sniff of fragility about them going into this intriguing cup clash. The packed home crowd clearly felt it too, but Rosenior's men navigated the task with ease.

The manager rang the changes, making multiple of them to his starting lineup. The tie might and maybe should have been settled long before it eventually was, with both Estêvão Willian and the forward guilty of spurning glorious opportunities to put their side ahead in the first half.

But, luckily for the visitors, Pedro Neto was in a far more ruthless frame of mind. He opened the scoring with a spectacular long-range strike, which proved to be the catalyst for his team to assume control of proceedings. By the final whistle, they had four, with the forward netting three of them for a brilliant three-goal haul.

Delap's Redemption and Influence

The home side showed plenty of fight all game, but the better chances always fell Chelsea’s way. The winger ought to have opened the deadlock when he went past keeper Dillon Phillips before inexplicably firing over. Delap then had a similar nightmare moment in front of goal against his former club.

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

The player had his head in his hands after that moment, but he was immensely influential from there on out, registering three key passes. The first was for the first goal as his through ball teed up his teammate to score from outside the box. Six minutes after the restart, it was two as Neto's corner went directly in through Phillips's legs.

Tie Sealed and Focus Turns

Soon after the second goal, the tie was effectively ended as a dazzling run from Delap laid on Estêvão to slide into an empty net. Neto then finished his treble as Delap again played the crucial pass for the attacker to calmly convert past a stranded Phillips.

At that point, the work Hull had put in in the first half-hour had been forgotten. Their focus must now return 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 earned at least one goal but if we perform like this we will be in a very good situation in the league," he said. "Keep fighting, 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 consolation when a substitute struck a post in stoppage time. But this was Chelsea’s night, and another positive step forward for their new manager at a place he is familiar with intimately.

FA Cup History Look Good

The result made for an ultimately straightforward night's performance, and the cup competition signs are good from here for the winners. They have faced Hull on three previous times in this tournament 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 huge tick for Rosenior.