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Amid freezing rain, flurries, and a swirling breeze from the waters of the Humber Estuary, combined with a resolute home side pushing hard for a top-flight place, this presented all the makings of a difficult evening’s work for Chelsea.

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

The Rosenior holds this city close to his heart, given some of his relatives are from Hull and his enjoyable spell in management of the Championship club. His happy connection was extended with a commanding display from his squad, who ultimately strolled into the fifth round of the FA Cup.

Clinical Finishing Seals Comprehensive Win

Seventy-two hours removed from surrendering a 2-0 lead in the Premier League, there was a hint of fragility about Chelsea going into this intriguing cup clash. The capacity Hull support clearly sensed it too, but the London side navigated the task with ease.

The manager made alterations, making multiple of them to his starting lineup. The match might and maybe should have been settled long before it actually was, with both the Brazilian winger and the forward at fault for missing glorious opportunities to put Chelsea ahead in the first half.

However, fortunately for the visitors, Pedro Neto was in a far more clinical mood. He opened the scoring with a spectacular long-range effort, which acted as the catalyst for Chelsea to take control of the match. By the final whistle, they had four, with the forward scoring three of them for a brilliant three-goal haul.

The Forward's Response and Influence

Hull showed plenty of fight all game, but the better opportunities always came to the visitors. Estêvão ought to have opened the scoring when he went past goalkeeper Dillon Phillips before inexplicably 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 Delap started to celebrate thinking the ball had gone over the line. It hadn’t, and by the time he understood, Hull's defenders had responded to clear the danger.

Delap had his head in his hands after that moment, but he was immensely instrumental from that point onward, registering 3 key passes. The opening was for the first goal as his pass set up Neto to finish from range. Shortly after the restart, it was two as Neto's set-piece went straight in under the keeper's legs.

Tie Put Beyond Doubt and Attention Shifts

Soon after Neto’s second, the tie was put beyond doubt as a dazzling run from the forward laid on his teammate to slide into an unguarded goal. Neto then completed his treble as the provider once again played the crucial pass for the attacker to calmly slot past a stranded Phillips.

At that point, the work Hull had done in the opening half-hour had been forgotten. Their focus must now return to achieving a promotion to the top division under Sergej Jakirovic, who left out a number of key individuals 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 strong situation in the league," he said. "Never surrender, maybe in the next games this can be a good lesson of how we should play."

There was plenty of endeavour to the final whistle, and they nearly got a late goal when Lewis Koumas hit a the upright in stoppage time. But this was the Blues' night, and another positive stride for their recently-appointed manager at a place he is familiar with intimately.

FA Cup Omens Are Good

That resulted in an in the end routine evening’s performance, and the cup competition omens are good from here for the winners. They have played Hull on three other times in this competition in the last decade and on each occasion, they have gone on to make the showpiece. Much still done in that respect, but this was another huge tick for the Chelsea boss.