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Amid sleet, flurries, and a biting breeze from the waters of the Humber, alongside a resolute Hull City side pushing hard for a top-flight place, this had all the ingredients of a difficult night's work for Chelsea.

"We could have added to our tally but the opposition are a strong team and it was a tough fixture; I am very pleased with the performance," the manager stated. "This club is very special to me so it was nice to get a positive welcome from the fans of supporters. The attitude of the players was excellent."

Liam Rosenior has this city dear to him, given some of his relatives hail from Hull and his successful spell in charge of the Championship club. His positive association continued with a commanding display from his squad, who in the end sauntered into the next round of the FA Cup.

Clinical Edge Secures Comprehensive Win

Seventy-two hours after surrendering a two-goal advantage in the Premier League, there was a sniff of fragility about them going into this potentially tricky cup clash. The capacity Hull crowd clearly felt it too, but Rosenior's men navigated the task with ease.

The manager made alterations, enacting seven of them to his XI. The tie might and maybe should have been decided earlier than it actually was, with both Estêvão Willian and the forward at fault for missing excellent chances to put their side in front in the opening period.

But, luckily for the visitors, Pedro Neto was in a much more clinical frame of mind. He opened the scoring with a marvellous long-range strike, which acted as the spark for Chelsea to take control of proceedings. By full time, they had four, with the forward netting three of them for a brilliant three-goal haul.

Delap's Redemption and Impact

Hull displayed plenty of fight all game, but the better chances consistently came to the visitors. Estêvão should have broken the scoring when he rounded goalkeeper the Hull stopper before inexplicably shooting over. The striker then had a similar nightmare moment in front of goal against his former club.

He blocked a Phillips's kick which bounced back from the crossbar, and he started to celebrate thinking the ball had gone over the line. It had not, and by the time he understood, Hull's defenders had responded to avert the threat.

The player had his head in his hands after that moment, but he was hugely influential from that point onward, registering three assists. The opening was for the first goal as his pass teed up his teammate to score from range. Shortly after the restart, it was two as Neto's corner went directly in through the keeper's legs.

Contest Put Beyond Doubt and Attention Turns

Soon after the second goal, the match was put beyond doubt as a dazzling dribble from the forward teed up his teammate to tap into an unguarded goal. The hat-trick hero then completed his hat-trick as Delap once again played the crucial pass for the striker to coolly convert by a stranded Phillips.

By that stage, the effort Hull had done in the opening half-hour had been erased. Their priority must now switch back to securing a promotion to the top division under Sergej Jakirovic, who rested a number of first-choice players with that goal in mind.

"In my opinion we deserved at least one goal but if we play like this we will be in a strong position in the Championship," he said. "Never surrender, maybe in the next matches this can be a positive lesson of how we must play."

Hull showed great endeavour to the final whistle, and they nearly got a late goal when Lewis Koumas hit a the upright in stoppage time. But this was Chelsea’s night, and another encouraging stride for their recently-appointed head coach at a stadium he knows very well.

Cup Omens Look Good

That made for an in the end routine night's performance, and the FA Cup-shaped signs are positive from here for Chelsea. They have faced Hull on three other occasions in this competition in the last decade and on each occasion, they have gone on to reach the showpiece. There is still done in that regard, but this was another significant positive for Rosenior.