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Amid freezing rain, snow, and a swirling wind from the waters of the Humber Estuary, combined with a resolute home side pushing hard for promotion, this presented all the makings of a challenging evening’s work for the visitors.

"We might have added to our tally but Hull are a good team and it was a difficult fixture; I’m delighted with the display," he said. "Hull City means a lot to me so it was nice to get a positive reception from both sets of supporters. The attitude of the players was superb."

The Rosenior has this place close to his heart, given some of his family hail from Hull and his enjoyable spell in management of the Tigers. His positive association continued with a magnificent display from his team, who in the end sauntered into the next round of the FA Cup.

Deadly Edge Seals Comfortable Win

Seventy-two hours removed from letting slip a two-goal lead in the league, there was a sniff of vulnerability about Chelsea going into this intriguing cup clash. The capacity home crowd evidently sensed it too, but the London side navigated the task perfectly.

The manager rang the changes, making seven of them to his XI. The match might and perhaps should have been decided earlier than it actually was, with both the Brazilian winger and Liam Delap guilty of missing excellent opportunities to put Chelsea ahead in the first half.

But, fortunately for the visitors, their Portuguese attacker was in a much more clinical frame of mind. He opened the deadlock with a spectacular distance effort, which acted as the catalyst for his team to take control of proceedings. By the final whistle, they had 4 goals, with Neto netting a trio of them for a superb three-goal haul.

The Forward's Response and Influence

The home side displayed plenty of fight all game, but the clearer chances always came to the visitors. The winger ought to have opened the scoring when he rounded keeper the Hull stopper before unbelievably shooting over. The striker then had a similar horror incident in front of goal against his old team.

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

Delap had his head in his hands after that miss, but he was immensely influential from there on out, providing three assists. The opening was for the first goal as his pass teed up his teammate to score from range. Six minutes after the restart, it was 2-0 as Neto's set-piece went directly in through Phillips's legs.

Tie Put Beyond Doubt and Focus Turns

Seven minutes after the second, the tie was put beyond doubt as a dazzling dribble from the forward laid on his teammate to slide into an empty net. The hat-trick hero then finished his treble as the provider once again delivered the crucial ball for the striker to calmly convert by a helpless Phillips.

By that stage, the work Hull had put in in the opening thirty minutes had long since forgotten. Their focus must now return to securing a promotion to the Premier League under their manager, who rested a number of key individuals with that goal in mind.

"I think we deserved at least one goal but if we play like this we will be in a strong position in the league," the Hull manager commented. "Keep fighting, maybe in the next matches this can be a positive lesson of how we must play."

Hull showed great effort to the final whistle, and they almost claimed a consolation when Lewis Koumas hit a the upright in injury time. But this was Chelsea’s night, and another positive step forward for their new manager at a stadium he is familiar with intimately.

FA Cup History Are Good

The result made for an ultimately straightforward evening’s performance, and the FA Cup-shaped omens are positive from here for the winners. They have faced Hull on three previous occasions in this tournament in the past ten years and every single time, they have gone on to reach the showpiece. Much still work in that regard, but this was another huge positive for the Chelsea boss.