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Against a backdrop of freezing rain, flurries, and a biting breeze from the banks of the Humber Estuary, alongside a determined Hull City side pushing hard for a top-flight place, this had all the ingredients of a challenging evening’s work for Chelsea.

"We could have scored more but Hull are a good team and it was a difficult tie; I am delighted with the performance," he said. "Hull City is very special to me so it was great to get a positive welcome from the fans of supporters. The attitude of the players was excellent."

Liam Chelsea manager has this city dear to him, given some of his family hail from Hull and his successful spell in charge of the Championship club. His happy association was extended with a magnificent display from his squad, who ultimately strolled into the next round of the famous old competition.

Deadly Edge Secures Comfortable Victory

Seventy-two hours removed from letting slip a 2-0 advantage in the Premier League, there was a sniff of fragility about them going into this intriguing tie. The capacity Hull support clearly felt it too, but the London side navigated the challenge with ease.

Rosenior made alterations, making seven of them to his XI. The match might and perhaps ought to have been decided long before it actually was, with two Estêvão Willian and the forward guilty of missing glorious opportunities to put their side in front in the opening period.

But, luckily for the visitors, their Portuguese attacker was in a far more ruthless mood. He broke the scoring with a marvellous long-range strike, which proved to be the catalyst for his team to take command of the match. By full time, they had 4 goals, with the forward scoring three of them for a brilliant hat-trick.

Delap's Redemption and Impact

The home side displayed great spirit throughout, but the clearer chances consistently came to the visitors. The winger ought to have broken the scoring when he went past keeper the Hull stopper before unbelievably shooting over. Delap then had a comparable nightmare moment in front of goal against his old team.

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

Delap had his head in his hands after that miss, but he was immensely influential from that point onward, registering three assists. The opening was for the first goal as his through ball set up Neto to score from outside the box. Six minutes after the second half began, it was 2-0 as the forward's corner went straight in under the keeper's legs.

Tie Put Beyond Doubt and Focus Shifts

Seven minutes after Neto’s second goal, the tie was effectively ended as a magnificent dribble from Delap teed up his teammate to slide into an empty net. The hat-trick hero then completed his treble as the provider again delivered the decisive ball for the striker to coolly convert by a stranded goalkeeper.

By that stage, the work Hull had done in the first thirty minutes had long since forgotten. Their focus must now switch back to securing a return to the top division under their manager, who rested several first-choice individuals with that goal in mind.

"In my opinion we earned at least one goal but if we perform like this we will be in a strong position in the Championship," he said. "Keep fighting, maybe in the upcoming matches this can be a positive example of how we should play."

There was plenty of effort to the final whistle, and they almost claimed a late goal when a substitute hit a post in injury time. But this was the Blues' evening, and another encouraging stride for their recently-appointed manager at a place he knows very well.

Cup History Are Good

That made for an in the end routine evening’s work, and the FA Cup-shaped signs are positive from here for the winners. They have played Hull on three previous occasions in this competition in the past ten years and every single time, they have gone on to reach the final. Much remains to be done in that respect, but this was another huge positive for the Chelsea boss.