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Against a backdrop of sleet, flurries, and a biting wind off the waters of the Humber, combined with a resolute home side fighting for promotion, this had all the ingredients of a challenging night's work for Chelsea.

"We might have scored more but Hull are a strong team and it was a difficult fixture; I am delighted with the performance," the manager stated. "Hull City means a lot to me so it was nice to get a positive reception from the fans of fans. The application of the lads was excellent."

The Chelsea manager holds this place dear to him, given some of his family hail from Hull and his enjoyable spell in charge of the Tigers. This positive association was extended with a magnificent performance from his squad, who ultimately strolled into the fifth round of the famous old competition.

Clinical Finishing Seals Comfortable Win

Three days removed from surrendering a two-goal advantage in the Premier League, there was a hint of vulnerability about Chelsea going into this potentially tricky tie. The packed Hull support evidently sensed it too, but Rosenior's men handled the task perfectly.

Rosenior made alterations, enacting multiple of them to his XI. The tie might and maybe ought to have been decided earlier than it actually was, with both the Brazilian winger and Liam Delap guilty of missing excellent chances to put their side in front in the first half.

However, fortunately for the visitors, Pedro Neto was in a much more ruthless frame of mind. He broke the scoring with a marvellous distance effort, which acted as the spark for his team to assume control of proceedings. By full time, they had four, with the forward scoring a trio of them for a superb three-goal haul.

Delap's Redemption and Influence

The home side showed plenty of spirit throughout, but the better opportunities consistently came Chelsea’s way. The winger should have broken the scoring when he rounded keeper Dillon Phillips before unbelievably shooting over. Delap then had a similar nightmare incident in front of goal against his old team.

He blocked a the goalkeeper's clearance which came back from the crossbar, and Delap began to celebrate believing the ball had gone over the line. It hadn’t, and by the time he understood, Hull's backline had responded to clear the threat.

The player had his head in his hands after that miss, but he was hugely instrumental from that point onward, providing 3 assists. The opening was for the first goal as his through ball teed up his teammate to score from outside the box. Six minutes after the restart, it was 2-0 as Neto's set-piece went straight in under the keeper's legs.

Contest Put Beyond Doubt and Focus Turns

Seven minutes after the second goal, the match was put beyond doubt as a dazzling run from Delap teed up his teammate to slide into an empty net. The hat-trick hero then finished his hat-trick as Delap once again played the decisive pass for the attacker to coolly slot past a helpless Phillips.

At that point, the effort Hull had put in in the opening thirty minutes had been forgotten. Their priority must now return to achieving a promotion to the Premier League under Sergej Jakirovic, who rested a number of first-choice players with that goal 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 league," the Hull manager commented. "Keep fighting, maybe in the upcoming matches this can be a positive lesson of how we should play."

Hull showed great endeavour to the end, and they almost claimed a late goal when Lewis Koumas hit a post in stoppage time. But this was Chelsea’s night, and another positive stride for their new head coach at a stadium he knows intimately.

FA Cup History Are Good

The result made for an in the end straightforward evening’s work, and the cup competition omens are positive from here for Chelsea. They have faced Hull on three other occasions in this tournament 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 tick for Rosenior.