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Amid sleet, snow, and a swirling breeze from the waters of the Humber Estuary, combined with a resolute Hull City side pushing hard for promotion, this presented all the ingredients of a difficult evening’s task for Chelsea.

"We might have scored more but Hull are a strong team and it was a difficult fixture; I am very pleased with the performance," he said. "Hull City means a lot to me so it was nice to get a good reception from the fans of supporters. The application of the players was superb."

The Chelsea manager holds this city close to his heart, given part of his relatives are from Hull and his successful spell in charge of the Championship club. His happy connection was extended with a commanding display from his team, who in the end sauntered into the fifth round of the FA Cup.

Clinical Edge Secures Comprehensive Victory

Seventy-two hours after surrendering a two-goal advantage in the Premier League, there was a hint of vulnerability about them going into this potentially tricky cup clash. The packed home support clearly sensed it too, but Rosenior's men handled the task perfectly.

Rosenior made alterations, enacting seven of them to his starting lineup. The match could and maybe should have been settled long before it actually was, with two the Brazilian winger and the forward at fault for missing glorious opportunities to put their side in front in the opening period.

However, luckily for the visitors, Pedro Neto was in a far more ruthless mood. He broke the deadlock with a spectacular long-range strike, which proved to be the catalyst for Chelsea to take command of proceedings. By the final whistle, they had four, with the forward netting three of them for a superb hat-trick.

Delap's Response and Impact

Hull showed great spirit throughout, but the better chances consistently came to the visitors. Estêvão should have broken the scoring when he went past goalkeeper the Hull stopper before inexplicably shooting over. The striker then had a similar horror incident in front of goal against his former club.

He blocked a the goalkeeper's kick which came off the crossbar, and he began to celebrate thinking the ball had gone over the line. It hadn’t, and by the time he realised, Hull's backline had reacted to clear the danger.

Delap had his head in his hands after that moment, but he was immensely instrumental from there on out, providing 3 key passes. The first was for the opening goal as his through ball set up his teammate to finish from outside the box. Shortly after the second half began, it was two as the forward's set-piece went straight in through the keeper's legs.

Contest Sealed and Attention Turns

Soon after the second goal, the match was effectively ended as a dazzling run from Delap teed up Estêvão to slide into an unguarded goal. Neto then completed his treble as the provider once again played the decisive ball for the striker to coolly convert by a helpless Phillips.

At that point, the effort Hull had done in the opening thirty minutes had long since forgotten. Their priority must now switch back to securing a promotion to the top division under Sergej Jakirovic, who rested a number of first-choice individuals with that goal in mind.

"In my opinion we deserved at least one goal but if we play like this we will be in a strong position in the league," he said. "Keep fighting, maybe in the next games this can be a positive lesson of how we should play."

Hull showed great effort to the end, and they nearly got a consolation when Lewis Koumas hit a the upright in injury time. But this was the Blues' evening, and another positive step forward for their recently-appointed manager at a place he is familiar with intimately.

Cup History Look Good

That resulted in an ultimately straightforward night's work, and the cup competition signs are good from here for the winners. They have faced Hull on three previous occasions in this competition in the past ten years and on each occasion, they have gone on to reach the showpiece. Much still done in that regard, but this was another huge tick for the Chelsea boss.