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Against a backdrop of freezing rain, snow, and a biting wind from the waters of the Humber Estuary, alongside a resolute home side pushing hard for promotion, this presented all the ingredients of a difficult night's work for the visitors.

"We might have scored more but the opposition are a good team and it was a tough tie; I am very pleased with the display," he said. "This club means a lot to me so it was great to get a positive reception from the fans of fans. The application of the players was superb."

Liam Rosenior has this place close to his heart, considering part of his family are from Hull and his enjoyable spell in management of the Championship club. This positive association was extended with a commanding display from his team, who in the end strolled into the fifth round of the FA Cup.

Clinical Edge Seals Comfortable Win

Three days removed from letting slip a 2-0 advantage in the Premier League, there was a sniff of fragility about Chelsea going into this intriguing tie. The packed home crowd evidently sensed it too, but Rosenior's men navigated the task with ease.

The manager made alterations, making multiple of them to his XI. The tie could and maybe should have been decided earlier than it eventually was, with both the Brazilian winger and Liam Delap guilty of missing excellent chances to put their side in front in the first half.

But, luckily for the visitors, Pedro Neto was in a much more ruthless frame of mind. He opened the deadlock with a marvellous long-range effort, which acted as the spark for his team to assume command of the match. By the final whistle, they had 4 goals, with Neto netting a trio of them for a superb three-goal haul.

Delap's Redemption and Influence

Hull showed plenty of fight all game, but the better opportunities always fell Chelsea’s way. The winger ought to have broken the deadlock when he rounded keeper the Hull stopper before unbelievably firing over. The striker then had a comparable nightmare moment in front of goal against his old team.

He deflected a the goalkeeper's clearance which bounced back from the bar, and Delap began to celebrate believing the ball had gone over the line. It had not, and by the time he understood, Hull's backline had responded to avert the danger.

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

Tie Put Beyond Doubt and Attention Shifts

Seven minutes after the second goal, the tie was put beyond doubt as a dazzling run from Delap teed up Estêvão to tap into an unguarded goal. The hat-trick hero then finished his hat-trick as the provider once again delivered the decisive pass for the striker to calmly slot past a stranded goalkeeper.

By that stage, the work Hull had done in the opening half-hour had long since erased. Their priority must now return to securing a promotion to the top division under Sergej Jakirovic, who left out several key players with that aim 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. "Never surrender, maybe in the next games this can be a positive example of how we should play."

There was great endeavour to the end, and they almost claimed a late goal when Lewis Koumas hit a the upright in stoppage time. But this was Chelsea’s night, and another encouraging stride for their recently-appointed manager at a place he knows intimately.

Cup Omens Are Good

That made for an ultimately routine night's performance, and the cup competition signs are positive from here for the winners. They have played Hull on three previous times in this competition in the last decade and every single time, they have progressed to make the final. Much remains to be work in that respect, but this was another significant positive for Rosenior.