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Amid freezing rain, snow, and a biting wind off the waters of the Humber, alongside a determined Hull City side pushing hard for a top-flight place, this had all the makings of a challenging night's task for Chelsea.

"We might have added to our tally but Hull are a strong team and it was a difficult fixture; I am delighted with the display," the manager stated. "Hull City is very special to me so it was great to get a good reception from the fans of supporters. The attitude of the players was excellent."

Liam Chelsea manager has this place close to his heart, considering part of his family are from Hull and his successful period in charge of the Championship club. His positive connection continued with a commanding display from his team, who in the end sauntered into the next round of the famous old competition.

Deadly Finishing Secures Comprehensive Victory

Three days removed from surrendering a two-goal lead in the league, there was a hint of fragility about them going into this intriguing cup clash. The capacity Hull support evidently felt it too, but the London side navigated the task perfectly.

Rosenior rang the changes, enacting seven of them to his XI. The tie might and perhaps should have been decided earlier than it eventually was, with two Estêvão Willian and the forward guilty of missing glorious opportunities to put Chelsea ahead in the opening period.

But, fortunately for the visitors, their Portuguese attacker was in a far more ruthless frame of mind. He opened the scoring with a spectacular long-range effort, which acted as the spark for his team to assume control of the match. By the final whistle, they had four, with the forward netting three of them for a superb hat-trick.

The Forward's Response and Influence

Hull displayed great fight throughout, but the better chances always came to the visitors. Estêvão ought to have broken the deadlock when he rounded keeper Dillon Phillips before inexplicably firing over. Delap then had a similar horror incident in front of goal against his old team.

He deflected a Phillips's clearance which came back from the crossbar, and Delap began to celebrate believing the ball had gone over the line. It hadn’t, and by the time he realised, Hull's backline had reacted to avert the threat.

The player had his head in his hands after that miss, but he was immensely influential from there on out, registering three key passes. The opening was for the first goal as his through ball set up his teammate to finish from outside the box. Six minutes after the second half began, it was 2-0 as Neto's set-piece went directly in through the keeper's legs.

Contest Sealed and Focus Turns

Seven minutes after the second, the match was effectively ended as a dazzling run from Delap teed up Estêvão to slide into an empty net. The hat-trick hero then completed his hat-trick as the provider again delivered the crucial pass for the attacker to coolly convert past a stranded goalkeeper.

At that point, the effort Hull had put in in the first half-hour had been forgotten. Their focus must now switch back to securing a promotion to the top division under their manager, who rested several key players 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 strong situation in the Championship," the Hull manager commented. "Never surrender, maybe in the next matches this can be a good lesson of how we must play."

Hull showed great endeavour to the final whistle, and they nearly got a consolation when Lewis Koumas hit a the upright in stoppage time. But this was the Blues' evening, and another positive stride for their new manager at a stadium he knows very well.

FA Cup History Look Promising

The result made for an ultimately routine night's work, and the cup competition omens are good from here for Chelsea. They have faced Hull on three previous times in this competition in the past ten years and on each occasion, they have gone on to make the showpiece. There is still done in that respect, but this was another huge positive for the Chelsea boss.