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Against a backdrop of sleet, snow, and a swirling breeze from the banks of the Humber Estuary, combined with a determined home side fighting for a top-flight place, this presented all the makings of a difficult night's task for the visitors.

"We could have scored more but the opposition are a good team and it was a difficult fixture; I’m delighted with the display," the manager stated. "This club is very special to me so it was great to get a positive reception from both sets of fans. The attitude of the players was excellent."

The Rosenior holds this city close to his heart, given part of his relatives hail from Hull and his successful spell in charge of the Tigers. This positive connection was extended with a commanding display from his squad, who ultimately strolled into the next round of the FA Cup.

Clinical Finishing Secures Comprehensive Victory

Seventy-two hours after surrendering a 2-0 advantage in the league, there was a sniff of vulnerability about them going into this intriguing tie. The capacity home crowd clearly felt it too, but the London side handled the task perfectly.

Rosenior made alterations, making multiple of them to his starting lineup. The match could and maybe should have been settled earlier than it actually was, with both the Brazilian winger and Liam Delap at fault for spurning glorious chances to put their side in front in the opening period.

But, luckily for the visitors, Pedro Neto was in a much more clinical frame of mind. He opened the deadlock with a spectacular long-range strike, which proved to be the spark for his team to take control of the match. By full time, they had 4 goals, with Neto scoring a trio of them for a brilliant hat-trick.

The Forward's Redemption and Impact

Hull displayed plenty of spirit throughout, but the better opportunities always came Chelsea’s way. Estêvão should have opened the scoring when he went past goalkeeper Dillon Phillips before unbelievably firing over. The striker then had a comparable nightmare incident in front of goal against his old team.

He deflected a Phillips's clearance which came back from the crossbar, and Delap started to run away believing the ball had gone over the line. It had not, and by the time he understood, Hull's defenders had reacted to clear the danger.

The player had his head in his hands after that miss, but he was hugely instrumental from there on out, providing three assists. The opening was for the first goal as his pass teed up his teammate to score from range. Shortly after the restart, it was 2-0 as Neto's corner went straight in under the keeper's legs.

Contest Sealed and Focus Shifts

Soon after Neto’s second, the tie was effectively ended as a dazzling run from Delap laid on his teammate to slide into an empty net. Neto then completed his hat-trick as Delap once again played the decisive ball for the attacker to calmly slot past a stranded goalkeeper.

At that point, the effort Hull had done in the first half-hour had been forgotten. Their focus must now switch back to achieving a promotion to the Premier League under their manager, who left out 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 Championship," he said. "Keep fighting, maybe in the next games this can be a good lesson of how we should play."

Hull showed plenty of effort to the end, and they nearly got a late goal when a substitute struck a the upright in injury time. But this was the Blues' night, and another encouraging stride for their new head coach at a place he knows very well.

FA Cup Omens Are Promising

That resulted in an ultimately straightforward night's work, and the cup competition signs are positive from here for the winners. They have played Hull on three previous occasions in this tournament in the last decade and every single time, they have gone on to reach the final. Much remains to be work in that respect, but this was another huge positive for Rosenior.