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Amid sleet, snow, and a swirling wind from the banks of the Humber, alongside a determined home side fighting for promotion, this presented all the makings of a challenging evening’s work for the visitors.

"We could have scored more but the opposition are a strong team and it was a tough tie; I’m very pleased with the performance," the manager stated. "Hull City is very special to me so it was great to get a positive reception from the fans of supporters. The attitude of the players was excellent."

Liam Rosenior has this city dear to him, considering part of his relatives are from Hull and his enjoyable period in charge of the Tigers. This positive association was extended with a commanding display from his team, who ultimately strolled into the next round of the famous old competition.

Deadly Edge Secures Comprehensive Win

Three days removed from surrendering a 2-0 lead in the Premier League, there was a sniff of vulnerability about them going into this intriguing tie. The packed home crowd evidently felt it too, but the London side navigated the task perfectly.

The manager rang the changes, enacting seven of them to his XI. The match could and maybe ought to have been decided earlier than it eventually was, with two Estêvão Willian and the forward at fault for spurning excellent opportunities to put their side ahead in the opening period.

But, luckily for the away team, Pedro Neto was in a far more clinical mood. He opened the deadlock with a marvellous long-range effort, which acted as the spark for his team to take 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 Impact

Hull showed great fight all game, but the clearer opportunities always came Chelsea’s way. The winger ought to have broken the deadlock when he rounded keeper the Hull stopper before unbelievably shooting over. Delap then had a comparable horror incident in front of goal against his old team.

He blocked a the goalkeeper's clearance which bounced back from the bar, and Delap started to celebrate believing the ball had gone over the line. It had not, and by the time he realised, Hull's backline had reacted to avert the threat.

The player had his head in his hands after that miss, but he was immensely influential from there on out, providing three assists. The opening was for the opening goal as his through ball teed up Neto to score from outside the box. Six minutes after the second half began, it was two as Neto's set-piece went directly in through Phillips's legs.

Contest Put Beyond Doubt and Attention Shifts

Seven minutes after Neto’s second goal, the match was effectively ended as a magnificent dribble from the forward teed up his teammate to slide into an unguarded goal. The hat-trick hero then finished his hat-trick as the provider again played the decisive pass for the striker to calmly convert by a helpless Phillips.

By that stage, the effort Hull had put in in the first thirty minutes had been forgotten. Their priority must now switch back to achieving a promotion to the Premier League under Sergej Jakirovic, who left out a number of first-choice individuals with that aim in mind.

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

Hull showed great effort to the end, and they nearly got a late goal when a substitute hit a post in injury time. But this was Chelsea’s night, and another positive stride for their recently-appointed manager at a stadium he is familiar with very well.

FA Cup History Are Good

That resulted in an in the end routine evening’s performance, and the FA Cup-shaped omens are positive from here for the winners. They have played Hull on three other occasions in this tournament in the past ten years and on each occasion, they have gone on to reach the final. There is still done in that respect, but this was another huge tick for the Chelsea boss.