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Amid sleet, snow, and a swirling wind off the waters of the Humber, alongside a resolute home side pushing hard for promotion, this presented all the makings of a challenging evening’s work for the visitors.

"We could have added to our tally but Hull are a good team and it was a difficult fixture; I am delighted with the performance," the manager stated. "Hull City means a lot to me so it was great to get a positive reception from both sets of fans. The attitude of the players was excellent."

The Rosenior has this city dear to him, given some of his relatives hail from Hull and his successful spell in management of the Tigers. His happy connection was extended with a commanding display from his squad, who in the end strolled into the next round of the famous old competition.

Clinical Finishing Seals Comprehensive Win

Seventy-two hours removed from letting slip a 2-0 lead in the league, there was a hint of fragility about them going into this potentially tricky tie. The packed home crowd clearly felt it too, but Rosenior's men navigated the task with ease.

The manager rang the changes, enacting multiple of them to his XI. The tie could and perhaps ought to have been settled long before it eventually was, with both the Brazilian winger and the forward at fault for spurning excellent opportunities to put their side ahead in the first half.

However, fortunately for the away team, their Portuguese attacker was in a far more clinical mood. He opened 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 four, with the forward scoring a trio of them for a superb hat-trick.

The Forward's Redemption and Impact

The home side displayed plenty of spirit throughout, but the better opportunities consistently came to the visitors. The winger ought to have broken the scoring when he went past keeper the Hull stopper before inexplicably shooting over. The striker then had a similar horror moment in front of goal against his former club.

He deflected a Phillips's kick which came off the crossbar, and Delap began to celebrate thinking the ball had crossed the line. It had not, and by the time he understood, Hull's defenders had responded to clear the danger.

Delap had his head in his hands after that miss, but he was hugely influential from there on out, providing 3 key passes. The opening was for the first goal as his through ball teed up his teammate 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 Sealed and Focus Turns

Seven minutes after the second, the match was put beyond doubt as a magnificent dribble from Delap teed up his teammate to tap into an unguarded goal. Neto then completed his treble as Delap once again delivered the decisive ball for the striker to coolly convert by a stranded goalkeeper.

By that stage, the work Hull had put in in the first half-hour had been erased. Their priority must now return to securing a return to the Premier League under Sergej Jakirovic, who left out a number of first-choice individuals with that aim in mind.

"In my opinion we deserved at least one goal but if we perform like this we will be in a very good position in the league," he said. "Never surrender, maybe in the upcoming games this can be a good example of how we should play."

Hull showed plenty of effort to the final whistle, and they nearly claimed a consolation when a substitute hit a post in injury time. But this was the Blues' night, and another encouraging step forward for their new head coach at a place he is familiar with intimately.

FA Cup Omens Are Good

The result resulted in an ultimately straightforward night's performance, and the cup competition omens are good from here for Chelsea. They have faced Hull on three previous occasions in this competition in the past ten years and on each occasion, they have progressed to make the showpiece. There is still done in that respect, but this was another significant tick for the Chelsea boss.