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Amid freezing rain, flurries, and a swirling wind from the waters of the Humber, alongside a resolute home side pushing hard for promotion, this presented all the ingredients of a difficult evening’s work for the visitors.

"We could have added to our tally but the opposition are a good team and it was a difficult tie; I’m delighted with the display," the manager stated. "This club means a lot to me so it was nice to get a good reception from the fans of fans. The attitude of the players was superb."

Liam Chelsea manager has this place close to his heart, considering part of his family are from Hull and his enjoyable period in charge of the Tigers. This happy connection continued with a magnificent display from his team, who ultimately strolled into the next round of the FA Cup.

Clinical Finishing Secures Comfortable Win

Seventy-two hours after letting slip a two-goal lead in the Premier League, there was a hint of fragility about Chelsea going into this potentially tricky tie. The packed Hull support evidently sensed it too, but the London side handled the task with ease.

The manager made alterations, enacting multiple of them to his XI. The match could and maybe should have been decided earlier than it eventually was, with two Estêvão Willian and the forward at fault for spurning glorious chances to put their side in front in the opening period.

But, fortunately for the visitors, their Portuguese attacker was in a much more clinical frame of mind. He opened the scoring with a marvellous distance effort, which acted as the spark for his team to assume command of proceedings. By full time, they had 4 goals, with the forward scoring a trio of them for a brilliant hat-trick.

Delap's Redemption and Impact

Hull displayed plenty of fight all game, but the better opportunities consistently came Chelsea’s way. The winger should have broken the scoring when he rounded goalkeeper Dillon Phillips before inexplicably firing over. The striker then had a similar nightmare incident in front of goal against his former club.

He blocked a the goalkeeper's clearance which came off the crossbar, and Delap started to celebrate believing the ball had gone over the line. It had not, and by the time he understood, Hull's backline had reacted to clear the threat.

Delap had his head in his hands after that moment, but he was hugely instrumental from there on out, providing 3 assists. The opening was for the opening goal as his pass teed up Neto to finish from range. Six minutes after the second half began, it was 2-0 as the forward's corner went directly in under Phillips's legs.

Tie Sealed and Focus Turns

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

By that stage, the work Hull had done in the opening half-hour had been forgotten. Their priority must now switch back to securing a promotion to the Premier League under Sergej Jakirovic, who left out a number of key individuals with that aim in mind.

"I think we deserved at least one goal but if we perform like this we will be in a strong position in the Championship," the Hull manager commented. "Keep fighting, maybe in the next matches this can be a good example of how we should play."

There was great endeavour to the final whistle, and they almost got a late goal when a substitute hit a post in injury time. But this was the Blues' evening, and another encouraging stride for their new head coach at a stadium he is familiar with very well.

Cup Omens Are Good

That made for an in the end straightforward night's performance, and the cup competition omens are good from here for the winners. They have faced Hull on three previous times in this tournament in the last decade and on each occasion, they have progressed to reach the final. There is still done in that regard, but this was another huge tick for Rosenior.