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Amid sleet, flurries, and a swirling breeze off the waters of the Humber Estuary, alongside a resolute home side fighting for promotion, this had all the ingredients of a challenging evening’s task for Chelsea.

"We could have added to our tally but the opposition are a good team and it was a tough tie; I’m very pleased with the display," the manager stated. "Hull City means a lot to me so it was great to get a good reception from both sets of supporters. The application of the players was excellent."

The Rosenior has this place dear to him, considering part of his relatives hail from Hull and his successful spell in management of the Championship club. His happy association was extended with a magnificent display from his squad, who in the end sauntered into the fifth round of the FA Cup.

Deadly Finishing Secures Comprehensive Win

Three days removed from letting slip a 2-0 lead in the league, there was a sniff of fragility about Chelsea going into this intriguing tie. The capacity home crowd clearly sensed it too, but the London side navigated the task perfectly.

Rosenior rang the changes, making seven of them to his starting lineup. The match might and perhaps should have been settled long before it actually was, with both the Brazilian winger and the forward guilty of missing glorious chances to put Chelsea in front in the first half.

But, luckily for the away team, Pedro Neto was in a much more ruthless frame of mind. He opened the scoring with a marvellous distance strike, which proved to be the catalyst for Chelsea to assume command of the match. By the final whistle, they had 4 goals, with Neto scoring three of them for a superb hat-trick.

Delap's Response and Impact

Hull showed plenty of fight all game, but the clearer opportunities always fell to the visitors. The winger should have broken the deadlock when he rounded goalkeeper Dillon Phillips before inexplicably firing over. The striker then had a comparable nightmare moment in front of goal against his former club.

He blocked a Phillips's clearance which bounced off the crossbar, and Delap started to run away believing the ball had gone over the line. It had not, and by the time he understood, Hull's backline had reacted to clear the threat.

The player had his head in his hands after that moment, but he was hugely instrumental from there on out, registering 3 assists. The opening was for the opening goal as his pass set up Neto to finish from range. Six minutes after the restart, it was two as the forward's corner went directly in under the keeper's legs.

Tie Put Beyond Doubt and Attention Shifts

Soon after Neto’s second goal, the match was put beyond doubt as a magnificent dribble from Delap teed up his teammate to tap into an unguarded goal. The hat-trick hero then finished his treble as the provider once again played the crucial pass for the attacker to calmly slot past a helpless Phillips.

At that point, the effort Hull had done in the first thirty minutes had long since forgotten. Their focus must now return to securing 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 perform like this we will be in a strong situation in the league," he said. "Keep fighting, maybe in the next matches this can be a positive lesson of how we must play."

Hull showed great endeavour to the end, and they nearly got a consolation when Lewis Koumas struck a post in injury time. But this was Chelsea’s evening, and another encouraging step forward for their new head coach at a place he knows very well.

Cup Omens Look Good

The result made for an ultimately straightforward evening’s performance, and the cup competition omens are positive from here for Chelsea. They have played Hull on three other times in this competition in the last decade and on each occasion, they have progressed to make the final. There is still done in that regard, but this was another huge positive for the Chelsea boss.