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Against a backdrop of freezing rain, snow, and a swirling breeze off the banks of the Humber, combined with a resolute home side fighting for a top-flight place, this had all the ingredients of a difficult night's work for Chelsea.

"We might have added to our tally but Hull are a strong team and it was a tough tie; I am delighted with the performance," the manager stated. "Hull City means a lot to me so it was nice to get a good welcome from both sets of fans. The attitude of the lads was superb."

The Rosenior has this place close to his heart, considering some of his family are from Hull and his enjoyable period in charge of the Tigers. This happy association continued with a commanding performance from his team, who in the end sauntered into the fifth round of the famous old competition.

Clinical Finishing Secures Comprehensive Victory

Three days removed from surrendering a 2-0 advantage in the league, there was a sniff of vulnerability about Chelsea going into this potentially tricky tie. The packed Hull crowd evidently felt it too, but Rosenior's men handled the challenge with ease.

The manager made alterations, enacting multiple of them to his XI. The match could and perhaps should have been settled earlier than it actually was, with both Estêvão Willian and the forward at fault for missing glorious chances to put Chelsea ahead in the first half.

But, luckily for the visitors, Pedro Neto was in a far more clinical frame of mind. He opened the scoring with a spectacular distance strike, which acted as the spark for his team to take control of proceedings. By full time, they had 4 goals, with Neto netting three of them for a superb three-goal haul.

Delap's Redemption and Influence

The home side displayed plenty of spirit all game, but the clearer opportunities consistently fell to the visitors. Estêvão should have broken the scoring when he rounded goalkeeper Dillon Phillips before inexplicably shooting over. Delap then had a similar horror incident in front of goal against his former club.

He deflected a Phillips's kick which bounced off the bar, and Delap started to celebrate believing the ball had gone over the line. It hadn’t, and by the time he understood, Hull's defenders had responded to avert the threat.

The player had his head in his hands after that moment, but he was immensely influential from that point onward, providing three assists. The opening was for the opening goal as his pass set up his teammate to score from range. Six minutes after the restart, it was two as Neto's corner went directly in under Phillips's legs.

Contest Put Beyond Doubt and Focus Shifts

Soon after Neto’s second goal, the tie was effectively ended as a dazzling run from Delap laid on his teammate to slide into an empty net. The hat-trick hero then completed his treble as Delap again delivered the crucial ball for the attacker to calmly slot by a helpless Phillips.

By that stage, the effort Hull had put in in the first half-hour had long since forgotten. Their focus must now switch back to achieving a return to the Premier League under their manager, who rested several first-choice 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 Championship," the Hull manager commented. "Keep fighting, maybe in the next games this can be a good lesson of how we must play."

There was plenty of endeavour to the end, and they almost claimed a consolation when Lewis Koumas hit a post in injury time. But this was Chelsea’s night, and another encouraging step forward for their recently-appointed manager at a stadium he knows very well.

Cup Omens Look Promising

That made for an ultimately routine evening’s performance, and the FA Cup-shaped omens are positive from here for the winners. They have played Hull on three previous times in this competition in the past ten years and every single time, they have progressed to make the final. There is still work in that regard, but this was another huge positive for Rosenior.