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Amid sleet, snow, and a biting wind from the banks of the Humber, alongside a resolute Hull City side fighting for a top-flight place, this had all the makings of a difficult evening’s work for Chelsea.

"We could have added to our tally but the opposition are a strong team and it was a difficult tie; I am delighted with the display," the manager stated. "Hull City is very special to me so it was nice to get a good welcome from both sets of supporters. The application of the players was superb."

The Rosenior has this city close to his heart, given part of his relatives are from Hull and his enjoyable period in management of the Championship club. His happy association was extended with a magnificent display from his squad, who ultimately strolled into the fifth round of the famous old competition.

Deadly Finishing Secures Comprehensive Victory

Three days after letting slip a two-goal advantage in the Premier League, there was a sniff of fragility about Chelsea going into this intriguing tie. The packed Hull support clearly felt it too, but Rosenior's men navigated the task perfectly.

Rosenior rang the changes, enacting multiple of them to his XI. The match might and maybe should have been decided long before it actually was, with two the Brazilian winger and Liam Delap guilty of spurning glorious opportunities to put their side in front in the opening period.

However, luckily for the visitors, their Portuguese attacker was in a far more ruthless mood. He broke the deadlock with a marvellous long-range effort, which acted as the spark for his team to take command of proceedings. By full time, they had 4 goals, with the forward netting a trio of them for a brilliant three-goal haul.

Delap's Response and Influence

Hull displayed plenty of fight all game, but the better opportunities always came Chelsea’s way. The winger ought to have broken the deadlock when he rounded goalkeeper Dillon Phillips before unbelievably firing over. The striker then had a comparable nightmare incident in front of goal against his former club.

He blocked a the goalkeeper's clearance which bounced off the crossbar, and Delap began to celebrate believing the ball had crossed the line. It had not, and by the time he realised, Hull's defenders had responded to clear the danger.

Delap had his head in his hands after that miss, but he was hugely instrumental from that point onward, providing 3 key passes. The first was for the opening goal as his pass teed up his teammate to finish from outside the box. Six minutes after the restart, it was 2-0 as Neto's corner went directly in under Phillips's legs.

Contest Sealed and Attention Shifts

Seven minutes after Neto’s second goal, the match was effectively ended as a dazzling dribble from the forward laid on his teammate to tap into an unguarded goal. Neto then completed his treble as Delap once again played the decisive pass for the striker to calmly slot by a stranded goalkeeper.

At that point, the effort Hull had done in the opening half-hour had long since erased. Their focus must now return to achieving a return to the Premier League under Sergej Jakirovic, who left out several first-choice players with that aim 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 Championship," he said. "Keep fighting, maybe in the upcoming matches this can be a good example of how we should play."

There was plenty of effort to the end, and they nearly claimed a late goal when Lewis Koumas hit a the upright in injury time. But this was the Blues' evening, and another encouraging step forward for their recently-appointed manager at a place he is familiar with very well.

FA Cup Omens Look Good

That resulted in an in the end straightforward night's performance, and the cup competition omens are positive from here for Chelsea. They have played Hull on three other times in this tournament in the past ten years and every single time, they have progressed to reach the showpiece. Much still done in that respect, but this was another significant tick for the Chelsea boss.