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Amid freezing rain, snow, and a biting wind from the waters of the Humber, combined with a determined Hull City side fighting for a top-flight place, this had all the ingredients of a challenging evening’s work for Chelsea.

"We could have scored more but the opposition are a strong team and it was a tough fixture; I’m very pleased with the performance," the manager stated. "This club means a lot to me so it was nice to get a good welcome from both sets of fans. The attitude of the players was excellent."

Liam Rosenior has this place dear to him, given some of his relatives hail from Hull and his enjoyable spell in charge of the Tigers. His happy connection continued with a commanding performance from his team, who in the end sauntered into the next round of the FA Cup.

Deadly Edge Seals Comprehensive Win

Three days removed from letting slip a 2-0 lead in the Premier League, there was a sniff of fragility about Chelsea going into this potentially tricky cup clash. The packed Hull crowd evidently sensed it too, but Rosenior's men navigated the task with ease.

Rosenior made alterations, enacting multiple of them to his XI. The match could and perhaps should have been decided earlier than it eventually was, with both the Brazilian winger and Liam Delap guilty of spurning excellent opportunities to put Chelsea in front in the opening period.

But, fortunately for the visitors, Pedro Neto was in a far more clinical mood. He broke the deadlock with a marvellous distance effort, which proved to be the catalyst for Chelsea to assume command of the match. By full time, they had four, with Neto netting a trio of them for a superb three-goal haul.

The Forward's Redemption and Influence

Hull displayed plenty of fight all game, but the clearer chances consistently came to the visitors. Estêvão ought to have opened the deadlock when he went past goalkeeper Dillon Phillips before unbelievably shooting over. The striker then had a similar horror incident in front of goal against his old team.

He deflected a Phillips's kick which came back from the bar, and Delap began to run away believing the ball had crossed the line. It hadn’t, and by the time he understood, Hull's defenders had responded to clear the threat.

The player had his head in his hands after that moment, but he was hugely instrumental from there on out, providing 3 assists. The opening was for the first goal as his pass set up his teammate to score from outside the box. Shortly after the second half began, it was 2-0 as the forward's set-piece went straight in under Phillips's legs.

Contest Sealed and Attention Shifts

Seven minutes after the second goal, the match was put beyond doubt as a dazzling run from the forward teed up Estêvão to tap into an empty net. The hat-trick hero then finished his treble as the provider again played the crucial pass for the attacker to coolly convert by a stranded Phillips.

At that point, the work Hull had done in the opening thirty minutes had long since erased. Their priority must now return to achieving a return to the top division under their manager, who rested several 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 lesson of how we should play."

Hull showed plenty of endeavour to the final whistle, and they nearly claimed a late goal when Lewis Koumas hit a post in stoppage time. But this was the Blues' night, and another encouraging stride for their recently-appointed head coach at a stadium he is familiar with intimately.

Cup History Look Promising

The result made for an in the end routine evening’s work, and the FA Cup-shaped omens are good from here for the winners. They have played Hull on three other occasions in this tournament in the past ten years and every single time, they have gone on to reach the showpiece. There is still done in that regard, but this was another huge positive for Rosenior.