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Against a backdrop of freezing rain, flurries, and a biting wind off the banks of the Humber Estuary, alongside a determined home side fighting for promotion, this presented all the makings of a difficult evening’s work for Chelsea.

"We could have added to our tally but the opposition are a good team and it was a difficult fixture; I’m very pleased with the performance," he said. "Hull City means a lot to me so it was nice to get a positive reception from the fans of supporters. The application of the lads was excellent."

Liam Rosenior holds this city dear to him, given some of his relatives hail from Hull and his enjoyable spell in management of the Championship club. His happy connection was extended with a magnificent performance from his squad, who ultimately sauntered into the next round of the FA Cup.

Clinical Edge Seals Comprehensive Victory

Three days after surrendering a 2-0 lead in the league, there was a hint of fragility about Chelsea going into this potentially tricky cup clash. The capacity Hull crowd clearly felt it too, but Rosenior's men navigated the challenge perfectly.

Rosenior rang the changes, making multiple of them to his XI. The match might and perhaps should have been settled earlier than it actually was, with two the Brazilian winger and Liam Delap guilty of spurning glorious opportunities to put their side in front in the first half.

However, luckily for the away team, their Portuguese attacker was in a far more clinical mood. He broke the scoring with a marvellous long-range effort, which acted as the catalyst for Chelsea to take control of proceedings. By full time, they had four, with Neto netting a trio of them for a brilliant hat-trick.

The Forward's Response and Impact

Hull displayed great spirit all game, but the clearer opportunities always came Chelsea’s way. The winger should have broken the scoring when he rounded goalkeeper the Hull stopper before unbelievably firing over. The striker then had a comparable horror incident in front of goal against his former club.

He deflected a Phillips's kick which came back from the crossbar, and he started to run away thinking the ball had crossed the line. It had not, and by the time he realised, Hull's defenders had responded to avert the danger.

The player had his head in his hands after that miss, but he was immensely influential from that point onward, registering 3 assists. The first was for the first goal as his pass set up his teammate to score from outside the box. Six minutes after the restart, it was 2-0 as Neto's set-piece went directly in under Phillips's legs.

Contest Sealed and Attention Turns

Seven minutes after Neto’s second, the match was effectively ended as a dazzling dribble from the forward teed up his teammate to slide into an unguarded goal. The hat-trick hero then finished his hat-trick as the provider once again played the decisive ball for the attacker to coolly slot past a helpless Phillips.

By that stage, the effort Hull had put in in the first half-hour had been forgotten. Their priority must now switch back to achieving a promotion to the Premier League under their manager, who left out a number of key players with that goal in mind.

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

There was great endeavour to the end, and they nearly got a consolation when a substitute hit a the upright in stoppage time. But this was the Blues' evening, and another encouraging stride for their new manager at a place he knows very well.

FA Cup Omens Look Good

That resulted in an in the end routine night's performance, and the FA Cup-shaped signs are positive from here for Chelsea. They have faced Hull on three other times in this competition in the last decade and every single time, they have progressed to make the final. There is remains to be done in that regard, but this was another significant positive for Rosenior.