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Against a backdrop of sleet, snow, and a swirling wind off the waters of the Humber Estuary, alongside a resolute Hull City side fighting for promotion, this had all the makings of a challenging evening’s work for Chelsea.

"We might have scored more but Hull are a good team and it was a difficult fixture; I’m very pleased with the performance," he said. "This club is very special to me so it was nice to get a positive reception from the fans of fans. The application of the players was superb."

The Rosenior holds this place close to his heart, considering some of his relatives are from Hull and his enjoyable spell in management of the Championship club. His happy connection continued with a magnificent performance from his team, who ultimately sauntered into the fifth round of the FA Cup.

Clinical Edge Seals Comfortable Win

Seventy-two hours after letting slip a two-goal lead in the league, there was a hint of vulnerability about Chelsea going into this potentially tricky cup clash. The capacity home crowd clearly sensed it too, but the London side handled the challenge with ease.

The manager rang the changes, making seven of them to his starting lineup. The tie might and maybe ought to have been decided earlier than it eventually was, with two Estêvão Willian and the forward at fault for missing glorious opportunities to put Chelsea in front in the opening period.

However, fortunately for the visitors, Pedro Neto was in a much more clinical mood. He opened the scoring with a marvellous distance strike, which proved to be the catalyst for Chelsea to take control of proceedings. By full time, they had 4 goals, with the forward netting three of them for a superb hat-trick.

Delap's Redemption and Influence

The home side displayed plenty of fight all game, but the clearer opportunities always fell to the visitors. The winger should have opened the deadlock when he rounded goalkeeper Dillon Phillips before inexplicably shooting over. Delap then had a comparable horror incident in front of goal against his old team.

He blocked a Phillips's kick which bounced off the crossbar, and Delap began to run away believing the ball had crossed the line. It hadn’t, and by the time he understood, Hull's backline had reacted to avert the threat.

The player had his head in his hands after that moment, but he was hugely influential from there on out, registering three key passes. The opening was for the opening goal as his pass set up Neto to finish from range. Six minutes after the second half began, it was two as Neto's corner went straight in through the keeper's legs.

Tie Sealed and Attention Turns

Seven minutes after Neto’s second goal, the match was effectively ended as a dazzling dribble from the forward teed up Estêvão to slide into an empty net. Neto then completed his treble as Delap again delivered the decisive ball for the striker to coolly convert by a helpless goalkeeper.

By that stage, the effort Hull had put in in the first thirty minutes had been forgotten. Their focus must now switch back to achieving a return to the top division under Sergej Jakirovic, who left out several first-choice individuals with that goal in mind.

"I think we earned at least one goal but if we play like this we will be in a very good situation in the league," he said. "Never surrender, maybe in the upcoming games this can be a good example of how we should play."

Hull showed plenty of endeavour to the end, and they nearly got a late goal when a substitute hit a the upright in injury time. But this was the Blues' night, and another positive step forward for their recently-appointed manager at a place he is familiar with intimately.

FA Cup History Look Good

That made for an ultimately routine evening’s work, and the FA Cup-shaped signs are positive from here for Chelsea. They have played Hull on three other occasions in this tournament in the last decade and on each occasion, they have gone on to make the final. Much remains to be done in that regard, but this was another significant positive for Rosenior.