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Amid sleet, snow, and a swirling wind off the waters of the Humber, combined with a resolute Hull City side pushing hard for a top-flight place, this presented all the ingredients of a challenging night'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 am very pleased with the display," the manager stated. "This club is very special to me so it was nice to get a good reception from the fans of fans. The application of the lads was excellent."

Liam Chelsea manager has this city close to his heart, given part of his family are from Hull and his successful period in charge of the Tigers. This positive association was extended with a commanding display from his team, who ultimately strolled into the next round of the FA Cup.

Deadly Finishing Secures Comfortable Victory

Three days after surrendering a two-goal lead in the league, there was a sniff of vulnerability about them going into this potentially tricky cup clash. The capacity Hull crowd evidently sensed it too, but Rosenior's men handled the task perfectly.

The manager rang the changes, making multiple of them to his starting lineup. The tie might and maybe should have been settled long before it actually was, with both Estêvão Willian and the forward at fault for spurning excellent chances to put their side in front in the first half.

However, luckily for the away team, Pedro Neto was in a far more clinical mood. He opened the scoring with a marvellous distance effort, which acted as the spark for his team to take control of proceedings. By the final whistle, they had 4 goals, with the forward scoring a trio of them for a brilliant three-goal haul.

Delap's Response and Impact

Hull displayed great spirit throughout, but the better opportunities always came to the visitors. The winger ought to have opened the scoring when he went past goalkeeper the Hull stopper before inexplicably shooting over. The striker then had a similar horror moment in front of goal against his old team.

He blocked a the goalkeeper's clearance which bounced back from the bar, and Delap began to celebrate believing the ball had crossed the line. It hadn’t, and by the time he realised, Hull's defenders had responded to clear the threat.

The player had his head in his hands after that moment, but he was hugely influential from that point onward, registering three assists. The first was for the opening goal as his pass teed up his teammate to score from outside the box. Shortly after the restart, it was two as Neto's corner went directly in under the keeper's legs.

Contest Put Beyond Doubt and Focus Turns

Seven minutes after Neto’s second goal, the tie was effectively ended as a magnificent run from the forward teed up his teammate to tap into an empty net. Neto then completed his treble as Delap once again delivered the decisive pass for the striker to calmly slot past a helpless goalkeeper.

At that point, the work Hull had done in the first thirty minutes had been erased. Their focus must now return to securing a return to the Premier League under their manager, who rested a number of first-choice players with that aim in mind.

"In my opinion we earned at least one goal but if we perform like this we will be in a very good situation in the league," the Hull manager commented. "Never surrender, maybe in the upcoming matches this can be a positive lesson of how we must play."

There was great endeavour to the final whistle, and they nearly got a late goal when a substitute struck a the upright in stoppage time. But this was the Blues' evening, and another positive step forward for their new head coach at a stadium he is familiar with very well.

FA Cup History Are Promising

The result resulted in an in the end routine evening’s work, and the cup competition signs are positive from here for the winners. They have faced Hull on three other occasions in this competition in the last decade and every single time, they have gone on to reach the final. There is still work in that respect, but this was another significant tick for the Chelsea boss.