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Against a backdrop of sleet, snow, and a biting breeze from the waters of the Humber, combined with a resolute Hull City side fighting for promotion, this had all the makings of a challenging evening’s task for the visitors.

"We might have scored more but Hull are a strong team and it was a difficult fixture; I’m delighted with the display," he said. "This club is very special to me so it was nice to get a positive reception from the fans of supporters. The attitude of the players was superb."

Liam Chelsea manager holds this place close to his heart, given part of his family hail from Hull and his successful spell in charge of the Championship club. This happy association continued with a magnificent performance from his squad, who in the end sauntered into the next round of the FA Cup.

Clinical Finishing Secures Comfortable Win

Seventy-two hours removed from letting slip a two-goal advantage in the league, there was a hint of fragility about Chelsea going into this potentially tricky cup clash. The capacity Hull crowd clearly felt it too, but the London side handled the challenge perfectly.

Rosenior rang the changes, enacting seven of them to his starting lineup. The match could and maybe should have been settled long before it actually was, with both Estêvão Willian and Liam Delap at fault for missing glorious chances to put Chelsea ahead in the opening period.

But, fortunately for the away team, their Portuguese attacker was in a far more ruthless frame of mind. He broke the deadlock with a spectacular long-range strike, which acted as the catalyst for his team to assume control of the match. By full time, they had four, with the forward netting a trio of them for a superb three-goal haul.

The Forward's Response and Influence

The home side displayed plenty of fight throughout, but the better chances consistently fell to the visitors. The winger should have opened the scoring when he went past keeper the Hull stopper before unbelievably shooting over. The striker then had a comparable horror moment in front of goal against his old team.

He deflected a Phillips's kick which bounced back from the crossbar, and Delap started to run away believing the ball had gone over the line. It hadn’t, 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 miss, but he was immensely influential from there on out, registering three key passes. The opening was for the first goal as his pass set up his teammate to finish from range. Six minutes after the second half began, it was two as Neto's set-piece went straight in through the keeper's legs.

Contest Put Beyond Doubt and Attention Shifts

Soon after the second, the match was effectively ended as a dazzling dribble from Delap laid on his teammate to slide into an unguarded goal. The hat-trick hero then finished his hat-trick as Delap again delivered the crucial ball for the attacker to calmly slot by a stranded goalkeeper.

At that point, the work Hull had put in in the opening half-hour had been erased. Their focus must now switch back to achieving a promotion to the Premier League under Sergej Jakirovic, who rested a number of key individuals with that goal in mind.

"I think 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. "Keep fighting, maybe in the next matches this can be a positive example of how we must play."

Hull showed great endeavour to the final whistle, and they almost claimed a late goal when a substitute hit a the upright in stoppage time. But this was the Blues' night, and another positive step forward for their new manager at a place he knows intimately.

FA Cup Omens Are Promising

That made for an ultimately straightforward evening’s performance, and the FA Cup-shaped omens are good from here for Chelsea. They have faced Hull on three previous occasions in this tournament in the past ten years and every single time, they have progressed to make the final. Much remains to be work in that regard, but this was another huge positive for the Chelsea boss.