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Against a backdrop of freezing rain, flurries, and a biting breeze from the banks of the Humber, combined with a resolute Hull City side pushing hard for promotion, this had all the makings of a difficult night's work for Chelsea.

"We might have scored more but Hull are a good team and it was a tough fixture; I’m very pleased with the display," he said. "Hull City means a lot to me so it was great to get a good reception from the fans of supporters. The application of the players was excellent."

The Rosenior has this place close to his heart, considering some of his relatives hail from Hull and his successful spell in charge of the Championship club. This positive connection was extended with a commanding display from his team, who ultimately sauntered into the next round of the FA Cup.

Clinical Edge Secures Comprehensive Win

Seventy-two hours removed from letting slip a two-goal advantage in the Premier League, there was a hint of fragility about Chelsea going into this intriguing cup clash. The capacity home crowd clearly sensed it too, but the London side handled the challenge perfectly.

The manager rang the changes, enacting multiple of them to his starting lineup. The match might and perhaps should have been decided earlier than it eventually was, with two the Brazilian winger and Liam Delap guilty of missing glorious opportunities to put Chelsea in front in the opening period.

But, luckily for the visitors, their Portuguese attacker was in a much more clinical frame of mind. He broke the deadlock with a spectacular long-range strike, which proved to be the catalyst for his team to take control of proceedings. By full time, they had four, with Neto scoring a trio of them for a superb hat-trick.

The Forward's Response and Impact

The home side showed great fight all game, but the clearer opportunities always came Chelsea’s way. Estêvão ought to have opened the deadlock when he rounded keeper Dillon Phillips before unbelievably shooting over. Delap then had a similar nightmare moment in front of goal against his former club.

He deflected a Phillips's kick which bounced back from the crossbar, and he started to run away thinking the ball had gone over the line. It hadn’t, and by the time he understood, Hull's defenders had reacted to avert the threat.

Delap had his head in his hands after that moment, but he was immensely influential from there on out, registering three assists. The first was for the first goal as his pass teed up his teammate to finish from outside the box. Shortly after the restart, it was two as Neto's corner went directly in through the keeper's legs.

Contest Put Beyond Doubt and Focus Turns

Soon after Neto’s second, the match was effectively ended as a dazzling run from the forward laid on his teammate to tap into an empty net. Neto then finished his hat-trick as the provider again played the decisive ball for the striker to calmly convert past a helpless goalkeeper.

By that stage, the work Hull had put in in the opening half-hour had been forgotten. Their focus must now switch back to achieving a promotion to the Premier League under Sergej Jakirovic, who left out a number of key players with that aim in mind.

"I think we deserved at least one goal but if we play like this we will be in a very good position in the league," the Hull manager commented. "Never surrender, maybe in the next games this can be a good lesson of how we should play."

Hull showed plenty of endeavour to the end, and they nearly got a consolation when Lewis Koumas struck a the upright in stoppage time. But this was Chelsea’s evening, and another encouraging stride for their new manager at a place he is familiar with very well.

FA Cup History Look Good

That resulted in an ultimately straightforward night's performance, and the cup competition omens are positive from here for the winners. They have played Hull on three previous times 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 respect, but this was another significant tick for the Chelsea boss.