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Amid sleet, flurries, and a biting breeze off the waters of the Humber, alongside a resolute home side fighting for promotion, this presented all the ingredients of a challenging evening’s task for Chelsea.

"We could have scored more but the opposition are a good team and it was a difficult tie; I’m very pleased with the performance," the manager stated. "This club means a lot to me so it was great to get a good welcome from the fans of fans. The application of the players was superb."

Liam Chelsea manager holds this city close to his heart, considering some of his family are from Hull and his enjoyable spell in charge of the Championship club. His positive connection continued with a commanding display from his squad, who in the end strolled into the next round of the FA Cup.

Clinical Finishing Seals Comfortable Victory

Three days removed from surrendering a 2-0 advantage in the Premier League, there was a sniff of fragility about Chelsea going into this potentially tricky cup clash. The packed Hull crowd clearly felt it too, but Rosenior's men navigated the challenge with ease.

Rosenior made alterations, making multiple of them to his XI. The match might and perhaps ought to have been decided earlier than it actually was, with both the Brazilian winger and the forward guilty of spurning excellent opportunities to put Chelsea in front in the opening period.

However, luckily for the away team, Pedro Neto was in a much more ruthless frame of mind. He opened the scoring with a spectacular long-range effort, which acted as the spark for his team to assume command of the match. By full time, they had four, with Neto scoring three of them for a brilliant three-goal haul.

Delap's Response and Impact

The home side showed plenty of spirit throughout, but the clearer opportunities consistently came to the visitors. The winger ought to have opened the scoring when he rounded keeper Dillon Phillips before inexplicably firing over. The striker then had a comparable nightmare moment in front of goal against his old team.

He blocked a the goalkeeper's clearance which came off the bar, and he started to celebrate thinking the ball had crossed the line. It had not, and by the time he understood, Hull's backline had responded to avert the threat.

The player had his head in his hands after that moment, but he was hugely influential from that point onward, providing 3 key passes. The opening was for the first goal as his through ball teed up his teammate to score from range. Six minutes after the second half began, it was two as the forward's corner went directly in under Phillips's legs.

Contest Sealed and Attention Turns

Seven minutes after Neto’s second, the match was put beyond doubt as a dazzling run from Delap laid on his teammate to tap into an empty net. Neto then finished his hat-trick as Delap once again delivered the decisive pass for the attacker to calmly convert by a stranded goalkeeper.

By that stage, the work Hull had done in the first thirty minutes had long since forgotten. Their priority must now return to achieving a return to the top division under Sergej Jakirovic, who rested a number of key individuals with that goal in mind.

"I think we earned at least one goal but if we play like this we will be in a very good position 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."

Hull showed great endeavour to the end, and they nearly claimed a late goal when a substitute hit a the upright in injury time. But this was the Blues' evening, and another encouraging stride for their new manager at a stadium he knows very well.

Cup History Look Promising

That resulted in an in the end routine night's performance, and the cup competition signs are good from here for Chelsea. They have played Hull on three previous times in this tournament in the past ten years and every single time, they have gone on to make the showpiece. Much remains to be work in that regard, but this was another significant tick for Rosenior.