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Amid sleet, flurries, and a swirling wind from the waters of the Humber, alongside a determined home side pushing hard for a top-flight place, this had all the makings of a difficult evening’s task for Chelsea.

"We might have added to our tally but Hull are a good team and it was a tough fixture; I am delighted with the performance," he said. "This club is very special to me so it was nice to get a positive reception from both sets of fans. The application of the lads was excellent."

Liam Chelsea manager has this city dear to him, considering part of his family hail from Hull and his successful period in management of the Championship club. His positive association continued with a commanding display from his squad, who in the end sauntered into the fifth round of the famous old competition.

Clinical Edge Seals Comfortable Victory

Seventy-two hours removed from letting slip a 2-0 advantage in the league, there was a hint of vulnerability about them going into this intriguing tie. The packed home crowd clearly felt it too, but Rosenior's men handled the challenge with ease.

The manager rang the changes, enacting multiple of them to his starting lineup. The match could and maybe ought to have been settled earlier than it eventually was, with both Estêvão Willian and Liam Delap at fault for missing excellent chances to put Chelsea in front in the opening period.

But, luckily for the visitors, their Portuguese attacker was in a much more clinical frame of mind. He opened the scoring with a marvellous distance strike, which acted as the catalyst for Chelsea to assume control of proceedings. By full time, they had four, with Neto netting a trio of them for a superb hat-trick.

Delap's Redemption and Influence

The home side showed plenty of spirit all game, but the better chances consistently fell Chelsea’s way. The winger ought to have opened the deadlock when he rounded goalkeeper Dillon Phillips before unbelievably firing over. The striker then had a similar horror incident in front of goal against his old team.

He deflected a the goalkeeper's kick which bounced back from the bar, and he began to run away thinking the ball had crossed the line. It hadn’t, and by the time he realised, Hull's backline had responded to avert the threat.

Delap had his head in his hands after that miss, but he was hugely instrumental from there on out, registering 3 assists. The opening was for the first goal as his pass set up Neto to finish from range. Shortly after the second half began, it was 2-0 as the forward's set-piece went straight in under the keeper's legs.

Tie Sealed and Attention Shifts

Soon after Neto’s second, the tie was put beyond doubt as a dazzling dribble from Delap laid on his teammate to slide into an unguarded goal. The hat-trick hero then finished his hat-trick as Delap again played the crucial pass for the striker to coolly convert by a helpless goalkeeper.

By that stage, the work Hull had put in in the first thirty minutes had been erased. Their focus must now return to achieving a return to the top division under Sergej Jakirovic, who left out several first-choice players with that goal in mind.

"In my opinion we earned at least one goal but if we perform like this we will be in a very good position in the Championship," he said. "Never surrender, maybe in the upcoming matches this can be a good example of how we should play."

There was great effort to the final whistle, and they nearly got a consolation when a substitute hit a the upright in stoppage time. But this was Chelsea’s night, and another positive step forward for their recently-appointed manager at a stadium he is familiar with very well.

FA Cup Omens Are Good

The result made for an ultimately routine evening’s performance, and the cup competition signs are positive from here for Chelsea. They have faced Hull on three previous occasions in this competition in the last decade and on each occasion, they have gone on to reach the final. There is remains to be done in that respect, but this was another significant positive for the Chelsea boss.