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Against a backdrop of freezing rain, snow, and a biting wind off the waters of the Humber, combined with a determined home side pushing hard for promotion, this presented all the ingredients of a difficult evening’s work for the visitors.

"We might have added to our tally but the opposition are a good team and it was a difficult tie; I’m delighted with the performance," the manager stated. "Hull City is very special to me so it was great to get a good reception from both sets of supporters. The attitude of the lads was excellent."

The Rosenior has this city dear to him, considering part of his family are from Hull and his successful period in management of the Championship club. This positive connection was extended with a magnificent display from his squad, who ultimately strolled into the next round of the famous old competition.

Deadly Edge Secures Comprehensive Win

Seventy-two hours removed from letting slip a two-goal advantage in the Premier League, there was a hint of vulnerability about them going into this potentially tricky tie. The packed home crowd clearly sensed it too, but the London side navigated the task perfectly.

Rosenior rang the changes, making seven of them to his XI. The match might and maybe should have been settled earlier than it actually was, with two the Brazilian winger and Liam Delap guilty of spurning glorious chances to put their side ahead in the opening period.

But, fortunately for the visitors, their Portuguese attacker was in a much more clinical mood. He broke the scoring with a spectacular distance strike, which acted as the catalyst for his team to assume control of the match. By the final whistle, they had four, with Neto scoring three of them for a brilliant hat-trick.

Delap's Redemption and Impact

The home side displayed plenty of fight throughout, but the clearer chances always fell to the visitors. Estêvão should have broken the deadlock when he rounded goalkeeper Dillon Phillips before unbelievably firing over. The striker then had a comparable horror moment in front of goal against his former club.

He blocked a Phillips's clearance which came off the bar, and he started to celebrate believing the ball had crossed the line. It hadn’t, and by the time he understood, Hull's backline had responded to clear the threat.

Delap had his head in his hands after that miss, but he was hugely influential from there on out, providing three key passes. The first was for the opening goal as his through ball teed up his teammate to finish from outside the box. Shortly after the restart, it was two as the forward's corner went directly in under Phillips's legs.

Tie Put Beyond Doubt and Attention Shifts

Soon after the second goal, the match was effectively ended as a magnificent dribble from Delap laid on his teammate to tap into an empty net. Neto then finished his treble as Delap again played the decisive pass for the attacker to coolly convert past a stranded goalkeeper.

By that stage, the work Hull had put in in the first thirty minutes had been erased. Their priority must now switch back to securing a promotion to the top division under their manager, who rested a number of 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 position in the Championship," he said. "Never surrender, maybe in the upcoming games this can be a positive example of how we should play."

There was great endeavour to the end, and they almost claimed a late goal when a substitute struck a the upright in stoppage time. But this was the Blues' evening, and another encouraging step forward for their new head coach at a stadium he knows very well.

FA Cup Omens Look Promising

That resulted in an in the end routine night's performance, and the FA Cup-shaped omens are positive from here for Chelsea. They have faced Hull on three other times in this competition in the past ten years and every single time, they have gone on to make the showpiece. Much still work in that regard, but this was another significant positive for the Chelsea boss.