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Amid freezing rain, snow, and a biting breeze off the banks of the Humber Estuary, alongside a resolute Hull City side fighting for a top-flight place, this had all the makings of a challenging evening’s work for the visitors.

"We could have scored more but the opposition are a good team and it was a difficult tie; I’m very pleased with the display," he said. "Hull City is very special to me so it was great to get a positive reception from both sets of supporters. The attitude of the lads was superb."

Liam Rosenior holds this city close to his heart, given some of his relatives are from Hull and his enjoyable period in charge of the Championship club. This positive connection continued with a magnificent performance from his squad, who ultimately strolled into the fifth round of the famous old competition.

Deadly Edge Seals Comprehensive Victory

Three days removed from surrendering a two-goal lead in the league, there was a hint of vulnerability about Chelsea going into this potentially tricky cup clash. The packed home crowd evidently sensed it too, but the London side navigated the challenge perfectly.

Rosenior rang the changes, making multiple of them to his XI. The match could and perhaps should have been decided long before it eventually was, with both Estêvão Willian and the forward guilty of missing glorious opportunities to put Chelsea ahead in the first half.

But, fortunately for the visitors, their Portuguese attacker was in a far more ruthless mood. He broke the scoring with a spectacular long-range effort, which proved to be the catalyst for Chelsea to assume control of the match. By the final whistle, they had 4 goals, with Neto scoring a trio of them for a superb hat-trick.

Delap's Redemption and Impact

Hull showed plenty of spirit all game, but the better chances consistently fell to the visitors. Estêvão should have opened the deadlock when he rounded keeper the Hull stopper before inexplicably shooting over. Delap then had a similar nightmare moment in front of goal against his former club.

He deflected a Phillips's clearance which bounced back from the bar, and he started to run away believing the ball had gone over the line. It had not, and by the time he realised, Hull's defenders had responded to avert the threat.

Delap had his head in his hands after that moment, but he was immensely instrumental from there on out, registering three assists. The opening was for the first goal as his pass teed up his teammate to score from outside the box. Six minutes after the second half began, it was 2-0 as the forward's corner went directly in under Phillips's legs.

Contest Sealed and Focus Shifts

Seven minutes after the second goal, the match was effectively ended as a dazzling dribble from the forward teed up his teammate to tap into an unguarded goal. The hat-trick hero then finished his treble as Delap once again delivered the decisive ball for the striker to coolly convert by a helpless goalkeeper.

By that stage, the work Hull had done in the opening thirty minutes had long since erased. Their focus must now return to achieving a return to the top division under their manager, who rested a number of key 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," he said. "Keep fighting, maybe in the next games this can be a good example of how we should play."

Hull showed plenty of endeavour to the end, and they almost claimed a consolation when Lewis Koumas hit a post in injury time. But this was the Blues' evening, and another positive step forward for their new head coach at a place he is familiar with intimately.

FA Cup History Are Promising

That made for an ultimately straightforward evening’s work, and the FA Cup-shaped omens are good from here for Chelsea. They have faced Hull on three previous times in this competition in the last decade and on each occasion, they have gone on to make the final. Much still work in that regard, but this was another significant positive for the Chelsea boss.