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Amid freezing rain, snow, and a swirling breeze off the banks of the Humber, alongside a determined home side fighting for promotion, this had all the ingredients of a difficult night's work for Chelsea.

"We might have added to our tally but the opposition are a strong team and it was a tough fixture; I’m delighted with the display," the manager stated. "This club is very special to me so it was great to get a good welcome from the fans of fans. The application of the players was superb."

The Chelsea manager holds this city close to his heart, given some of his relatives are from Hull and his enjoyable spell in charge of the Tigers. His positive 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 Seals Comprehensive Win

Three days after surrendering a 2-0 lead in the league, there was a sniff of fragility about Chelsea going into this potentially tricky cup clash. The packed home crowd evidently felt it too, but Rosenior's men handled the challenge with ease.

Rosenior rang the changes, making seven of them to his XI. The tie could and perhaps ought to have been settled earlier than it actually was, with two Estêvão Willian and the forward guilty of missing glorious chances to put Chelsea ahead in the opening period.

But, fortunately for the visitors, their Portuguese attacker was in a much more ruthless mood. He broke the deadlock with a spectacular distance effort, which acted as the spark for Chelsea to assume control of proceedings. By full time, they had 4 goals, with Neto netting three of them for a brilliant three-goal haul.

Delap's Response and Influence

The home side displayed great fight all game, but the better chances consistently fell Chelsea’s way. The winger ought to have broken the deadlock when he rounded keeper the Hull stopper before inexplicably firing over. Delap then had a similar nightmare moment in front of goal against his former club.

He blocked a Phillips's kick which bounced back from the bar, and Delap began 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 avert the danger.

Delap had his head in his hands after that miss, but he was immensely instrumental from there on out, registering 3 key passes. The first was for the first goal as his through ball set up his teammate to finish from range. Shortly after the restart, it was two as the forward's set-piece went directly in through the keeper's legs.

Contest Put Beyond Doubt and Focus Shifts

Seven minutes after Neto’s second, the tie was effectively ended as a dazzling run from the forward laid on Estêvão to slide into an empty net. The hat-trick hero then completed his hat-trick as the provider again delivered the crucial pass for the attacker to calmly convert by a helpless Phillips.

By that stage, the work Hull had put in in the first half-hour had long since forgotten. Their focus must now return to securing a promotion to the top division under Sergej Jakirovic, who rested a number of first-choice individuals 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 position in the league," the Hull manager commented. "Never surrender, maybe in the upcoming matches this can be a positive lesson of how we must play."

There was plenty of effort to the final whistle, and they almost got a consolation when Lewis Koumas hit a post in injury time. But this was Chelsea’s night, and another positive stride for their recently-appointed manager at a stadium he knows very well.

FA Cup History Are Promising

The result made for an in the end straightforward night's work, and the FA Cup-shaped omens are good from here for Chelsea. They have faced Hull on three other occasions in this tournament in the past ten years and on each occasion, they have gone on to make the showpiece. There is still done in that regard, but this was another significant positive for Rosenior.