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Against a backdrop of sleet, snow, and a swirling breeze from the waters of the Humber Estuary, combined with a resolute home side fighting for a top-flight place, this had all the ingredients of a challenging evening’s task for the visitors.

"We could have scored more but the opposition are a strong team and it was a tough tie; I am very pleased 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 application of the lads was superb."

Liam Rosenior has this city close to his heart, given part of his family are from Hull and his enjoyable period in management of the Tigers. This happy connection was extended with a commanding display from his squad, who ultimately sauntered into the fifth round of the famous old competition.

Clinical Edge Secures Comfortable Victory

Seventy-two hours removed from letting slip a two-goal lead in the league, there was a hint of fragility about Chelsea going into this potentially tricky tie. The capacity Hull crowd clearly felt it too, but the London side handled the task perfectly.

The manager made alterations, making multiple of them to his starting lineup. The match could and perhaps ought to have been settled earlier than it eventually was, with both Estêvão Willian and the forward guilty of spurning glorious opportunities to put Chelsea ahead in the first half.

But, fortunately for the visitors, their Portuguese attacker was in a much more clinical mood. He opened the deadlock with a marvellous long-range effort, which acted as the catalyst for Chelsea to assume command of the match. By full time, they had 4 goals, with Neto scoring three of them for a superb hat-trick.

The Forward's Redemption and Influence

The home side displayed great fight all game, but the better opportunities always fell to the visitors. The winger should have broken the scoring when he went past goalkeeper Dillon Phillips before inexplicably shooting over. Delap then had a comparable nightmare moment in front of goal against his old team.

He blocked a the goalkeeper's kick which came off the bar, and Delap started to run away believing the ball had gone over the line. It had not, and by the time he realised, Hull's defenders had responded to avert the threat.

The player had his head in his hands after that moment, but he was hugely instrumental from there on out, registering 3 assists. The first was for the opening goal as his through ball set up Neto to finish from range. Shortly after the restart, it was 2-0 as Neto's set-piece went straight in under Phillips's legs.

Contest Put Beyond Doubt and Focus Shifts

Soon after Neto’s second, the tie was effectively ended as a dazzling dribble from Delap teed up his teammate to slide into an empty net. Neto then finished his treble as the provider again delivered the decisive ball for the attacker to coolly slot by a helpless Phillips.

At that point, the work Hull had put in in the first thirty minutes had been forgotten. Their focus must now return to achieving a return to the Premier League under their manager, who rested a number of key individuals with that aim in mind.

"I think we earned at least one goal but if we perform like this we will be in a strong situation in the league," he said. "Keep fighting, maybe in the upcoming matches this can be a good lesson of how we should play."

Hull showed plenty of effort to the end, and they almost got a late goal when Lewis Koumas struck a post in stoppage time. But this was the Blues' night, and another positive step forward for their new manager at a place he knows intimately.

FA Cup History Are Promising

The result made for an ultimately straightforward night's performance, and the cup competition omens are good from here for Chelsea. They have played Hull on three previous occasions in this competition in the past ten years and every single time, they have gone on to reach the final. Much still done in that respect, but this was another huge tick for Rosenior.