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Amid sleet, flurries, and a swirling wind off the banks of the Humber, combined with a determined Hull City side pushing hard for a top-flight place, this had all the makings of a challenging night's work for Chelsea.

"We might have added to our tally but Hull are a strong team and it was a tough tie; I am delighted with the display," the manager stated. "This club is very special to me so it was nice to get a positive welcome from both sets of supporters. The attitude of the lads was excellent."

Liam Chelsea manager holds this place close to his heart, considering part of his relatives are from Hull and his successful spell in management of the Championship club. His happy connection was extended with a magnificent display from his team, who in the end strolled into the fifth round of the FA Cup.

Clinical Finishing Secures Comfortable Win

Seventy-two hours after letting slip a 2-0 lead in the league, there was a hint of fragility about them going into this potentially tricky cup clash. The capacity home crowd evidently sensed it too, but Rosenior's men navigated the task perfectly.

Rosenior made alterations, making seven of them to his starting lineup. The match might and perhaps should have been settled long before it eventually was, with both the Brazilian winger and Liam Delap at fault for missing glorious opportunities to put their side ahead in the opening period.

But, fortunately for the visitors, their Portuguese attacker was in a far more ruthless frame of mind. He opened the deadlock with a spectacular distance strike, which proved to be the spark for his team to assume command of proceedings. By full time, they had 4 goals, with the forward scoring three of them for a brilliant hat-trick.

Delap's Redemption and Impact

The home side displayed plenty of spirit all game, but the clearer opportunities always fell to the visitors. Estêvão ought to have broken the deadlock when he rounded goalkeeper the Hull stopper before unbelievably shooting over. The striker then had a similar horror incident in front of goal against his old team.

He blocked a the goalkeeper's clearance which bounced back from the bar, and he began to run away thinking the ball had gone over the line. It hadn’t, and by the time he understood, Hull's backline had reacted to avert the threat.

The player had his head in his hands after that miss, but he was hugely influential from that point onward, providing 3 key passes. The opening was for the first goal as his through ball set up Neto to score from range. Shortly after the second half began, it was two as Neto's corner went directly in through the keeper's legs.

Tie Sealed and Attention Turns

Seven minutes after Neto’s second, the match was effectively ended as a magnificent run from Delap teed up Estêvão to slide into an empty net. The hat-trick hero then completed his treble as Delap once again played the crucial pass for the attacker to calmly slot by a stranded Phillips.

At that point, the effort Hull had done in the first thirty minutes had long since erased. Their focus must now return to achieving a promotion to the Premier League under their manager, who rested a number of first-choice players with that goal in mind.

"In my opinion we earned at least one goal but if we play like this we will be in a very good position in the Championship," the Hull manager commented. "Keep fighting, maybe in the upcoming games this can be a good lesson of how we must play."

Hull showed plenty of 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 step forward for their new manager at a stadium he knows very well.

FA Cup Omens Look Good

That resulted in an in the end routine evening’s performance, and the FA Cup-shaped signs are good from here for the winners. They have played Hull on three other times in this competition in the past ten years and every single time, they have gone on to reach the showpiece. There is still done in that regard, but this was another significant positive for the Chelsea boss.