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Against a backdrop of freezing rain, flurries, and a biting wind off the waters of the Humber, combined with a resolute Hull City side pushing hard for promotion, this had all the ingredients of a difficult evening’s work for Chelsea.

"We might have scored more but Hull are a strong team and it was a tough tie; I’m very pleased with the display," the manager stated. "Hull City is very special to me so it was nice to get a good welcome from the fans of fans. The application of the players was excellent."

The Chelsea manager holds this place dear to him, considering part of his family are from Hull and his successful period in charge of the Tigers. This positive connection was extended with a commanding performance from his team, who in the end strolled into the fifth round of the famous old competition.

Deadly Edge Secures Comprehensive Victory

Seventy-two hours after letting slip a two-goal advantage in the Premier League, there was a sniff of vulnerability about Chelsea going into this potentially tricky cup clash. The capacity Hull crowd evidently felt it too, but Rosenior's men handled the task perfectly.

The manager rang the changes, making multiple of them to his starting lineup. The match might and perhaps ought to have been settled long before it actually was, with two the Brazilian winger and the forward guilty of spurning excellent opportunities to put Chelsea in front in the opening period.

But, luckily for the visitors, their Portuguese attacker was in a far more clinical mood. He opened the scoring with a spectacular distance effort, which proved to be the catalyst for his team to take command of proceedings. By full time, they had 4 goals, with Neto scoring three of them for a superb hat-trick.

Delap's Response and Impact

Hull showed plenty of fight throughout, but the clearer chances consistently fell Chelsea’s way. The winger should have opened the scoring when he rounded keeper the Hull stopper before inexplicably shooting over. Delap then had a similar horror incident in front of goal against his former club.

He blocked a the goalkeeper's clearance which came off the crossbar, and Delap started to celebrate believing the ball had crossed the line. It hadn’t, and by the time he realised, Hull's backline had reacted to avert the danger.

The player had his head in his hands after that moment, but he was immensely influential from that point onward, registering three assists. The opening was for the opening goal as his through ball set up his teammate to score from range. Six minutes after the restart, it was 2-0 as the forward's set-piece went straight in through Phillips's legs.

Contest Put Beyond Doubt and Focus Shifts

Seven minutes after Neto’s second goal, the tie was put beyond doubt as a magnificent dribble from the forward teed up Estêvão to slide into an empty net. The hat-trick hero then completed his treble as Delap once again played the crucial ball for the striker to coolly slot past a stranded Phillips.

By that stage, the effort Hull had put in in the opening half-hour had been forgotten. Their priority must now return to achieving a return to the top division under Sergej Jakirovic, who rested several first-choice players with that goal in mind.

"In my opinion we deserved at least one goal but if we perform like this we will be in a strong situation in the league," he said. "Never surrender, maybe in the upcoming matches this can be a positive example of how we must play."

There was plenty of endeavour to the final whistle, and they nearly claimed a consolation when a substitute struck a post in injury time. But this was the Blues' night, and another positive stride for their recently-appointed head coach at a stadium he knows intimately.

FA Cup Omens Are Promising

That resulted in an in the end routine night's performance, and the cup competition signs are positive from here for the winners. They have faced Hull on three other occasions in this competition in the past ten years and on each occasion, they have gone on to make the showpiece. Much remains to be work in that respect, but this was another huge tick for Rosenior.