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Amid freezing rain, flurries, and a swirling breeze from the banks of the Humber Estuary, alongside a determined home side pushing hard for promotion, this had all the makings of a challenging evening’s task for the visitors.

"We might have scored more but the opposition are a strong team and it was a tough fixture; I am very pleased with the performance," he said. "This club is very special to me so it was nice to get a positive reception from both sets of fans. The attitude of the players was excellent."

Liam Rosenior holds this place dear to him, given part of his family hail from Hull and his successful spell in charge of the Championship club. This happy association continued with a commanding performance from his team, who ultimately sauntered into the next round of the FA Cup.

Clinical Edge Seals Comprehensive Victory

Seventy-two hours after letting slip a 2-0 advantage in the Premier League, there was a sniff of fragility about Chelsea going into this potentially tricky tie. The capacity home support clearly felt it too, but Rosenior's men navigated the task perfectly.

The manager rang the changes, making seven of them to his starting lineup. The match might and maybe should have been settled long before it actually was, with two the Brazilian winger and Liam Delap at fault for spurning glorious chances to put their side ahead in the opening period.

However, luckily for the visitors, their Portuguese attacker was in a much more ruthless frame of mind. He opened the deadlock with a spectacular long-range effort, which acted as the spark for Chelsea to assume control of the match. By full time, they had 4 goals, with Neto netting a trio of them for a superb hat-trick.

The Forward's Redemption and Influence

The home side displayed plenty of fight all game, but the better chances always fell to the visitors. The winger should have opened the scoring when he went past keeper Dillon Phillips before unbelievably shooting over. Delap then had a similar nightmare moment in front of goal against his former club.

He blocked a Phillips's kick which came back from the crossbar, and he began to run away thinking the ball had crossed the line. It hadn’t, and by the time he understood, Hull's defenders had reacted to clear the threat.

The player had his head in his hands after that moment, but he was hugely influential from there on out, registering three assists. The first was for the first goal as his through ball teed up Neto to finish from range. Six minutes after the second half began, it was two as the forward's set-piece went directly in through Phillips's legs.

Tie Sealed and Focus Turns

Seven minutes after Neto’s second, the match was effectively ended as a magnificent run from the forward teed up his teammate to slide into an unguarded goal. The hat-trick hero then completed his treble as Delap once again delivered the decisive pass for the attacker to coolly convert past a helpless goalkeeper.

By that stage, the effort Hull had put in in the first thirty minutes had long since forgotten. Their focus must now switch back to achieving a return to the Premier League under Sergej Jakirovic, who rested several first-choice players with that goal in mind.

"I think we deserved at least one goal but if we perform like this we will be in a strong position in the league," he said. "Never surrender, maybe in the next matches this can be a good lesson of how we should play."

There was great endeavour to the end, and they almost got a consolation when Lewis Koumas struck a post in stoppage time. But this was Chelsea’s night, and another positive step forward for their recently-appointed manager at a place he is familiar with intimately.

Cup History Look Promising

The result resulted in an ultimately routine night's work, and the FA Cup-shaped omens are positive from here for the winners. They have faced Hull on three other times in this competition in the past ten years and every single time, they have gone on to reach the showpiece. There is remains to be done in that regard, but this was another significant tick for the Chelsea boss.