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Amid freezing rain, snow, and a biting wind from the banks of the Humber, alongside a resolute Hull City side pushing hard for a top-flight place, this had all the makings of a challenging evening’s task for the visitors.

"We could have scored more but Hull are a strong team and it was a tough tie; I’m very pleased with the performance," he said. "Hull City is very special to me so it was great to get a good welcome from the fans of supporters. The attitude of the lads was superb."

Liam Chelsea manager has this city dear to him, considering part of his family are from Hull and his successful spell in charge of the Tigers. This happy connection continued with a commanding display from his squad, who ultimately sauntered into the next round of the FA Cup.

Clinical Finishing Secures Comprehensive Win

Three days after letting slip a 2-0 lead in the league, there was a sniff of vulnerability about them going into this potentially tricky cup clash. The packed home crowd clearly sensed it too, but the London side navigated the challenge perfectly.

The manager made alterations, making seven of them to his XI. The tie could and perhaps ought to have been settled earlier than it eventually was, with both the Brazilian winger and Liam Delap guilty of missing excellent opportunities to put their side ahead in the first half.

However, fortunately for the visitors, their Portuguese attacker was in a far more ruthless frame of mind. He opened the deadlock with a spectacular distance strike, which proved to be the catalyst for his team to assume control of proceedings. By the final whistle, they had 4 goals, with the forward scoring three of them for a brilliant hat-trick.

Delap's Response and Influence

Hull displayed plenty of fight all game, but the clearer chances always fell to the visitors. The winger ought to have opened the deadlock when he went past goalkeeper the Hull stopper before unbelievably firing over. Delap then had a comparable horror moment in front of goal against his former club.

He deflected a Phillips's clearance which came off the bar, and he started to run away thinking the ball had gone over the line. It had not, and by the time he realised, Hull's backline had reacted to clear the threat.

Delap had his head in his hands after that miss, but he was hugely instrumental from there on out, registering three assists. The first was for the opening goal as his pass set up Neto to score from range. Six minutes after the second half began, it was 2-0 as Neto's corner went directly in under the keeper's legs.

Tie Put Beyond Doubt and Attention Shifts

Soon after Neto’s second goal, the match was effectively ended as a magnificent run from Delap teed up his teammate to slide into an unguarded goal. The hat-trick hero then completed his hat-trick as Delap again delivered the decisive pass for the striker to calmly convert by a stranded Phillips.

At that point, the effort Hull had done in the opening half-hour had long since erased. Their focus must now switch back to securing a return to the top division under their manager, who left out several key players with that aim in mind.

"I think we earned at least one goal but if we play like this we will be in a very good situation in the league," he said. "Keep fighting, maybe in the next matches this can be a good lesson of how we must play."

There was plenty of endeavour to the end, and they almost got a consolation when a substitute hit a post in stoppage time. But this was the Blues' evening, and another encouraging stride for their recently-appointed head coach at a place he is familiar with very well.

Cup History Look Good

That resulted in an in the end routine evening’s work, and the cup competition signs are good from here for Chelsea. They have played Hull on three other times in this competition in the past ten years and on each occasion, they have progressed to reach the final. There is remains to be work in that respect, but this was another huge tick for Rosenior.