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Against a backdrop of sleet, flurries, and a swirling breeze off the banks of the Humber Estuary, combined with a determined Hull City side fighting for a top-flight place, this presented all the ingredients of a challenging evening’s work for Chelsea.

"We could have added to our tally but Hull are a good team and it was a difficult tie; I’m very pleased with the display," he said. "This club means a lot to me so it was great to get a positive welcome from both sets of fans. The application of the lads was superb."

Liam Rosenior has this place dear to him, considering part of his family are from Hull and his enjoyable spell in charge of the Championship club. His happy connection continued with a magnificent performance from his team, who in the end sauntered into the next round of the famous old competition.

Deadly Finishing Seals Comfortable Win

Seventy-two hours after surrendering a 2-0 advantage in the league, there was a hint of fragility about Chelsea going into this intriguing tie. The packed Hull support evidently sensed it too, but Rosenior's men handled the task with ease.

Rosenior made alterations, enacting seven of them to his XI. The tie could and perhaps should have been decided long before it actually was, with two Estêvão Willian and Liam Delap at fault for missing glorious chances to put their side in front in the first half.

But, fortunately for the away team, Pedro Neto was in a far more clinical frame of mind. He opened the scoring with a spectacular distance strike, which proved to be the spark for Chelsea to assume control of the match. By the final whistle, they had 4 goals, with the forward netting a trio of them for a superb hat-trick.

The Forward's Response and Influence

Hull displayed plenty of spirit throughout, but the better chances consistently fell Chelsea’s way. The winger should have broken the scoring when he went past keeper Dillon Phillips before unbelievably firing over. The striker then had a similar horror moment in front of goal against his former club.

He blocked a the goalkeeper's kick which bounced off the bar, and he started to run away thinking the ball had gone over the line. It had not, and by the time he realised, Hull's backline had responded to avert the danger.

Delap had his head in his hands after that miss, but he was hugely instrumental from there on out, registering 3 key passes. The first was for the opening goal as his through ball teed up Neto to finish from outside the box. Six minutes after the second half began, it was 2-0 as the forward's set-piece went straight in through Phillips's legs.

Contest Sealed and Focus Turns

Seven minutes after the second, the match was put beyond doubt as a magnificent dribble from the forward laid on his teammate to tap into an empty net. The hat-trick hero then completed his hat-trick as the provider again delivered the decisive ball for the striker to coolly convert by a stranded goalkeeper.

By that stage, the work Hull had done in the first half-hour had been erased. Their focus must now switch back to achieving a return to the top division under Sergej Jakirovic, who rested a number of first-choice individuals with that goal in mind.

"I think we earned 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 upcoming games this can be a positive lesson of how we must play."

There was 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 Chelsea’s evening, and another positive stride for their recently-appointed head coach at a stadium he is familiar with intimately.

FA Cup Omens Look Good

That resulted in an ultimately routine night's performance, 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 every single time, they have gone on to reach the showpiece. There is remains to be done in that regard, but this was another significant tick for the Chelsea boss.