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Against a backdrop of freezing rain, snow, and a swirling wind off the waters of the Humber, combined with a resolute Hull City side fighting for a top-flight place, this presented all the makings of a difficult night's work for the visitors.

"We might have scored more but Hull are a good team and it was a tough fixture; I am very pleased with the display," the manager stated. "Hull City is very special to me so it was great to get a positive welcome from both sets of fans. The application of the lads was superb."

Liam Chelsea manager holds this place close to his heart, given part of his relatives are from Hull and his enjoyable spell in management of the Tigers. This positive connection was extended with a commanding performance from his team, who ultimately strolled into the fifth round of the FA Cup.

Deadly Edge Secures Comfortable Win

Three days removed from surrendering a two-goal lead in the Premier League, there was a hint of vulnerability about Chelsea going into this potentially tricky cup clash. The capacity Hull crowd clearly sensed it too, but Rosenior's men handled the task with ease.

Rosenior rang the changes, enacting seven of them to his XI. The match could and perhaps ought to have been settled long before it eventually was, with two Estêvão Willian and the forward guilty of spurning glorious chances to put Chelsea in front in the opening period.

But, luckily for the visitors, their Portuguese attacker was in a much more ruthless frame of mind. He broke the scoring with a marvellous distance effort, which proved to be the spark for his team to assume control of the match. By the final whistle, they had 4 goals, with Neto scoring a trio of them for a superb three-goal haul.

The Forward's Redemption and Impact

The home side displayed plenty of spirit throughout, but the better opportunities always fell to the visitors. Estêvão should have opened the scoring when he rounded goalkeeper Dillon Phillips before unbelievably shooting over. Delap then had a comparable horror moment in front of goal against his old team.

He blocked a Phillips's clearance 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 backline had reacted to clear the threat.

The player had his head in his hands after that moment, but he was immensely instrumental from that point onward, registering three key passes. The first was for the first goal as his pass set up his teammate to score from range. Shortly after the restart, it was two as the forward's set-piece went straight in under the keeper's legs.

Tie Sealed and Attention Turns

Soon after the second goal, the tie was effectively ended as a dazzling run from Delap teed up Estêvão to slide into an unguarded goal. Neto then finished his treble as Delap again played the decisive pass for the attacker to calmly convert by a helpless goalkeeper.

By that stage, the work Hull had done in the opening half-hour had been forgotten. Their priority must now return to securing a return to the top division under Sergej Jakirovic, who rested several first-choice individuals with that aim in mind.

"In my opinion we deserved at least one goal but if we perform like this we will be in a very good position in the Championship," he said. "Keep fighting, maybe in the upcoming matches this can be a positive example of how we must play."

There was great endeavour to the final whistle, and they nearly claimed a consolation when Lewis Koumas hit a post in injury time. But this was the Blues' night, and another positive step forward for their new manager at a place he knows very well.

Cup Omens Are Good

That resulted in an ultimately straightforward evening’s performance, and the cup competition signs are positive from here for the winners. They have faced Hull on three other times in this tournament in the past ten years and every single time, they have gone on to make the showpiece. There is remains to be done in that respect, but this was another huge tick for Rosenior.