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Against a backdrop of sleet, flurries, and a biting breeze off the waters of the Humber, combined with a determined Hull City side pushing hard for a top-flight place, this presented all the makings of a difficult night's task for the visitors.

"We might have scored more but Hull are a good team and it was a tough tie; I am delighted with the performance," he said. "Hull City is very special to me so it was nice to get a good reception from both sets of supporters. The attitude of the lads was superb."

Liam Rosenior holds this city close to his heart, considering some of his family hail from Hull and his successful spell in charge of the Championship club. This happy association was extended with a magnificent performance from his squad, who in the end sauntered into the next round of the FA Cup.

Deadly Finishing Secures Comprehensive Victory

Three days removed from letting slip a 2-0 lead in the Premier League, there was a hint of vulnerability about them going into this intriguing tie. The capacity Hull support evidently sensed it too, but Rosenior's men handled the challenge perfectly.

Rosenior made alterations, enacting seven of them to his XI. The tie might and perhaps should have been settled earlier than it actually was, with both the Brazilian winger and the forward guilty of missing glorious opportunities to put Chelsea ahead in the first half.

But, luckily for the visitors, their Portuguese attacker was in a much more ruthless frame of mind. He opened the scoring with a spectacular long-range strike, which acted as the spark for Chelsea to take command of proceedings. By the final whistle, they had four, with the forward netting three of them for a brilliant hat-trick.

The Forward's Redemption and Influence

The home side displayed plenty of spirit throughout, but the clearer chances consistently came Chelsea’s way. The winger ought to have opened the deadlock when he went past keeper Dillon Phillips before unbelievably shooting over. Delap then had a similar nightmare incident in front of goal against his old team.

He blocked a the goalkeeper's clearance which came off the crossbar, and Delap began 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 clear the danger.

The player had his head in his hands after that moment, but he was hugely influential from that point onward, registering three assists. The first was for the first goal as his through ball set up his teammate to score from range. Shortly after the second half began, it was 2-0 as the forward's corner went straight in through Phillips's legs.

Contest Put Beyond Doubt and Attention Turns

Soon after Neto’s second, the match was effectively ended as a magnificent run from the forward teed up Estêvão to tap into an empty net. The hat-trick hero then completed his hat-trick as the provider once again delivered the crucial pass for the striker to calmly convert past a helpless Phillips.

At that point, the work Hull had put in in the first thirty minutes had been forgotten. Their priority must now return to securing a promotion to the Premier League under Sergej Jakirovic, who left out a number of key 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 matches this can be a positive example of how we should play."

Hull showed plenty of effort to the end, and they almost claimed a consolation 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 knows intimately.

FA Cup History Look Promising

The result resulted in an in the end straightforward evening’s performance, and the cup competition omens are good from here for Chelsea. They have faced Hull on three other occasions in this competition in the past ten years and every single time, they have progressed to make the final. There is still done in that respect, but this was another huge tick for the Chelsea boss.