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Against a backdrop of freezing rain, snow, and a biting wind off the banks of the Humber Estuary, combined with a resolute home side pushing hard for promotion, this presented all the makings of a difficult night's work for Chelsea.

"We could have scored more but the opposition are a strong team and it was a tough fixture; I am very pleased with the display," he said. "Hull City is very special to me so it was nice to get a good reception from the fans of fans. The attitude of the lads was excellent."

Liam Rosenior holds this place dear to him, given some of his family are from Hull and his enjoyable period in charge of the Tigers. His happy association was extended with a magnificent performance from his team, who ultimately sauntered into the next round of the FA Cup.

Deadly Edge Seals Comfortable Win

Seventy-two hours removed from surrendering a two-goal advantage in the league, there was a sniff of vulnerability about Chelsea going into this potentially tricky cup clash. The capacity home support clearly felt it too, but Rosenior's men navigated the task perfectly.

The manager made alterations, making multiple of them to his XI. The tie could and maybe ought to have been decided earlier than it eventually was, with both the Brazilian winger and Liam Delap at fault for missing glorious opportunities to put Chelsea in front in the opening period.

However, luckily for the visitors, their Portuguese attacker was in a much more ruthless mood. He opened the deadlock with a spectacular distance strike, which acted as the spark for Chelsea to take control of the match. By the final whistle, they had 4 goals, with the forward scoring a trio of them for a brilliant three-goal haul.

The Forward's Response and Influence

Hull showed great fight all game, but the better opportunities consistently came Chelsea’s way. The winger ought to have broken the deadlock when he went past goalkeeper the Hull stopper before unbelievably shooting over. The striker then had a comparable horror moment in front of goal against his old team.

He blocked a the goalkeeper's clearance which bounced back from the crossbar, and he began to celebrate thinking the ball had crossed the line. It hadn’t, 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 moment, but he was immensely influential from there on out, providing three assists. The first was for the opening goal as his pass teed up his teammate to score from range. Six minutes after the restart, it was 2-0 as the forward's corner went directly in through the keeper's legs.

Tie Put Beyond Doubt and Focus Shifts

Soon after the second goal, the match was put beyond doubt as a dazzling run from the forward laid on his teammate to slide into an empty net. The hat-trick hero then completed his hat-trick as the provider again played the decisive ball for the striker to calmly slot by a stranded Phillips.

By that stage, the effort Hull had put in in the opening thirty minutes had long since erased. Their priority must now switch back to securing a return to the top division under Sergej Jakirovic, who rested several first-choice players with that aim in mind.

"In my opinion we deserved at least one goal but if we play like this we will be in a strong situation in the league," he said. "Never surrender, maybe in the upcoming games this can be a good example of how we must play."

There was plenty of endeavour to the end, and they nearly claimed a consolation when a substitute struck a the upright in injury time. But this was Chelsea’s night, and another positive stride for their new head coach at a stadium he knows very well.

Cup History Look Good

That made for an ultimately straightforward evening’s performance, and the FA Cup-shaped signs are good from here for the winners. They have played Hull on three previous times in this competition in the last decade and every single time, they have progressed to make the final. There is still work in that respect, but this was another significant tick for the Chelsea boss.