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Against a backdrop of freezing rain, snow, and a swirling wind from the banks of the Humber Estuary, combined with a resolute Hull City side pushing hard for a top-flight place, this had all the makings of a challenging evening’s work for the visitors.

"We might have added to our tally but the opposition are a good team and it was a difficult fixture; I’m very pleased with the performance," the manager stated. "This club is very special to me so it was nice to get a good reception from both sets of fans. The attitude of the lads was excellent."

The Chelsea manager has this place dear to him, given some of his relatives are from Hull and his enjoyable period in management of the Tigers. His happy association was extended with a magnificent performance from his squad, who ultimately strolled into the fifth round of the FA Cup.

Deadly Edge Seals Comprehensive Win

Seventy-two hours removed from surrendering a 2-0 advantage in the league, there was a hint of fragility about them going into this potentially tricky tie. The capacity home crowd evidently felt it too, but Rosenior's men navigated the task with ease.

The manager made alterations, enacting seven of them to his starting lineup. The tie might and maybe should have been decided long before it eventually was, with both Estêvão Willian and the forward guilty of spurning excellent opportunities to put Chelsea ahead in the first half.

But, fortunately for the visitors, their Portuguese attacker was in a far more ruthless frame of mind. He opened the deadlock with a marvellous long-range effort, which acted as 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 three-goal haul.

Delap's Response and Influence

The home side showed great fight all game, but the better chances always came to the visitors. Estêvão should have opened the deadlock when he rounded goalkeeper the Hull stopper before unbelievably shooting over. The striker then had a comparable horror incident in front of goal against his old team.

He deflected a Phillips's kick which came off the bar, and Delap started to celebrate thinking the ball had crossed the line. It had not, and by the time he realised, Hull's defenders had responded to avert the danger.

Delap had his head in his hands after that moment, but he was hugely influential from that point onward, registering three assists. The first was for the opening goal as his pass set up Neto to finish from outside the box. Shortly after the second half began, it was 2-0 as the forward's corner went straight in through Phillips's legs.

Tie Sealed and Focus Turns

Seven minutes after Neto’s second goal, the tie was put beyond doubt as a magnificent run from the forward teed up Estêvão to slide into an unguarded goal. The hat-trick hero then completed his hat-trick as Delap once again delivered the crucial pass for the striker to coolly convert past a stranded goalkeeper.

At that point, the effort Hull had done in the opening half-hour had been forgotten. Their focus must now switch back to achieving a return to the Premier League under Sergej Jakirovic, who rested a number of first-choice individuals with that goal in mind.

"I think we deserved at least one goal but if we play like this we will be in a strong position in the Championship," he said. "Never surrender, maybe in the next games this can be a positive lesson of how we must play."

There was great endeavour to the final whistle, and they almost got a consolation when a substitute struck a the upright in injury time. But this was the Blues' evening, and another encouraging stride for their recently-appointed manager at a stadium he is familiar with intimately.

FA Cup Omens Look Promising

That made for an in the end routine 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 competition in the last decade and on each occasion, they have progressed to make the showpiece. Much still work in that regard, but this was another significant positive for Rosenior.