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Against a backdrop of freezing rain, flurries, and a swirling wind off the banks of the Humber Estuary, combined with a resolute home side pushing hard for a top-flight place, this had all the ingredients of a challenging evening’s work for the visitors.

"We could have scored more but Hull are a strong team and it was a tough tie; I am delighted with the display," he said. "Hull City means a lot to me so it was nice to get a good reception from the fans of fans. The attitude of the players was excellent."

The Chelsea manager holds this city dear to him, given part of his family hail from Hull and his enjoyable spell in management of the Championship club. This happy association continued with a magnificent performance from his team, who in the end strolled into the fifth round of the famous old competition.

Clinical Finishing Secures Comfortable Victory

Seventy-two hours after surrendering a two-goal advantage in the league, there was a sniff of fragility about Chelsea going into this potentially tricky tie. The capacity Hull crowd evidently felt it too, but Rosenior's men handled the challenge with ease.

Rosenior 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 Estêvão Willian and the forward guilty of missing glorious chances to put Chelsea in front in the first half.

But, fortunately for the away team, Pedro Neto was in a far more clinical frame of mind. He broke the scoring with a marvellous distance strike, which acted as the catalyst for Chelsea to take control of the match. By the final whistle, they had 4 goals, with the forward scoring three of them for a superb hat-trick.

Delap's Redemption and Impact

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

He blocked a Phillips's kick which came off the bar, and Delap began to run away believing the ball had crossed the line. It had not, and by the time he realised, Hull's backline had reacted to clear the danger.

The player had his head in his hands after that moment, but he was hugely influential from there on out, registering 3 key passes. The first was for the first goal as his pass set up his teammate to finish from outside the box. Six minutes after the restart, it was 2-0 as Neto's set-piece went straight in through Phillips's legs.

Tie Sealed and Focus Turns

Seven minutes after Neto’s second goal, the match was effectively ended as a dazzling dribble from the forward teed up his teammate to tap into an empty net. Neto then finished his treble as Delap again played the crucial ball for the striker to calmly slot past a helpless goalkeeper.

By that stage, the effort Hull had done in the opening thirty minutes had long since erased. Their priority must now return to achieving a promotion to the Premier League under their manager, who left out several key individuals with that aim in mind.

"I think we deserved at least one goal but if we perform like this we will be in a very good position in the Championship," he said. "Keep fighting, maybe in the upcoming games this can be a good lesson of how we should play."

There was plenty of endeavour to the end, and they almost got a late goal when Lewis Koumas hit a post in injury time. But this was Chelsea’s evening, and another positive step forward for their recently-appointed head coach at a stadium he knows very well.

FA Cup Omens Look Promising

The result made for an in the end straightforward evening’s work, and the cup competition omens are positive from here for the winners. They have faced 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 done in that respect, but this was another huge positive for Rosenior.