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Amid sleet, snow, and a biting wind from the waters of the Humber, alongside a determined home side fighting for a top-flight place, this had all the ingredients of a challenging night's task for Chelsea.

"We might have added to our tally but Hull are a good team and it was a difficult fixture; I’m very pleased with the performance," he said. "Hull City means a lot to me so it was great to get a good welcome from both sets of fans. The application of the lads was excellent."

The Chelsea manager holds this city dear to him, considering part of his family are from Hull and his successful spell in management of the Championship club. His happy association was extended with a commanding performance from his team, who in the end sauntered into the next round of the FA Cup.

Clinical Finishing Secures Comprehensive Victory

Seventy-two hours after surrendering a two-goal lead in the league, there was a sniff of fragility about Chelsea going into this intriguing cup clash. The capacity Hull crowd clearly sensed it too, but the London side handled the challenge with ease.

Rosenior rang the changes, making multiple of them to his starting lineup. The tie might and perhaps ought to have been decided earlier than it actually was, with both Estêvão Willian and Liam Delap at fault for spurning excellent opportunities to put Chelsea ahead in the first half.

But, luckily for the away team, Pedro Neto was in a much more clinical mood. He opened the deadlock with a spectacular long-range effort, which acted as the spark for Chelsea to assume control of proceedings. By full time, they had four, with the forward netting three of them for a brilliant hat-trick.

The Forward's Response and Impact

The home side displayed plenty of spirit throughout, but the better opportunities always fell Chelsea’s way. The winger ought to have opened the deadlock when he went past goalkeeper Dillon Phillips before unbelievably firing over. Delap then had a comparable horror incident in front of goal against his former club.

He blocked a the goalkeeper's clearance which came off the bar, and he began to run away thinking the ball had gone over the line. It hadn’t, and by the time he realised, Hull's defenders had reacted to clear the threat.

The player had his head in his hands after that miss, but he was immensely instrumental from that point onward, registering 3 key passes. The first was for the opening goal as his through ball set up Neto to finish from outside the box. Six minutes after the restart, it was 2-0 as Neto's set-piece went directly in under the keeper's legs.

Contest Sealed and Attention Turns

Soon after Neto’s second goal, the match was effectively ended as a dazzling dribble from the forward teed up Estêvão to tap into an unguarded goal. The hat-trick hero then finished his hat-trick as Delap again played the crucial ball for the striker to coolly convert by a stranded goalkeeper.

At that point, the effort Hull had done in the opening half-hour had been forgotten. Their focus must now return to achieving a return to the top division under Sergej Jakirovic, who rested several first-choice individuals with that aim in mind.

"In my opinion we earned at least one goal but if we play like this we will be in a very good situation in the Championship," he said. "Never surrender, maybe in the upcoming matches this can be a good lesson of how we must play."

Hull showed plenty of effort to the final whistle, and they almost claimed a late goal when a substitute struck a post in injury time. But this was Chelsea’s night, and another positive stride for their new manager at a place he knows intimately.

FA Cup History Are Good

That resulted in an ultimately straightforward evening’s performance, and the FA Cup-shaped signs are good from here for Chelsea. They have played Hull on three other times in this competition in the past ten years and every single time, they have progressed to make the final. There is remains to be done in that respect, but this was another huge tick for Rosenior.