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Amid sleet, snow, and a swirling breeze from the banks of the Humber Estuary, combined with a resolute Hull City side fighting for promotion, this had all the makings of a difficult evening’s task for Chelsea.

"We could have added to our tally but Hull are a good team and it was a difficult fixture; I am very pleased with the display," he said. "This club is very special to me so it was nice to get a good welcome from the fans of fans. The application of the lads was excellent."

The Chelsea manager holds this city dear to him, considering part of his relatives hail from Hull and his successful period in charge of the Tigers. This positive connection was extended with a magnificent performance from his team, who ultimately strolled into the fifth round of the famous old competition.

Deadly Edge Seals Comfortable Win

Three days after surrendering a 2-0 advantage in the Premier League, there was a sniff of vulnerability about Chelsea going into this potentially tricky cup clash. The packed Hull support evidently felt it too, but the London side navigated the challenge perfectly.

Rosenior made alterations, enacting seven of them to his XI. The match might and maybe ought to have been decided long before it eventually was, with two Estêvão Willian and the forward guilty of missing 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 clinical frame of mind. He opened the deadlock with a spectacular long-range effort, which proved to be the spark for his team to take control of the match. By full time, they had 4 goals, with Neto scoring a trio of them for a brilliant three-goal haul.

Delap's Response and Influence

Hull showed great spirit throughout, but the better chances always came to the visitors. Estêvão should have broken the deadlock when he went past goalkeeper the Hull stopper before inexplicably shooting over. The striker then had a comparable nightmare incident in front of goal against his old team.

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

Delap had his head in his hands after that miss, but he was immensely instrumental from that point onward, registering 3 assists. The first was for the opening goal as his pass teed up his teammate to finish from outside the box. Shortly after the second half began, it was 2-0 as the forward's set-piece went directly in through the keeper's legs.

Contest Sealed and Focus Turns

Soon after Neto’s second goal, the tie was effectively ended as a dazzling run from Delap teed up Estêvão to tap into an empty net. Neto then finished his hat-trick as Delap again delivered the decisive pass for the striker to coolly slot by a stranded goalkeeper.

By that stage, the work Hull had done in the first thirty minutes had long since erased. Their priority must now return to achieving a promotion to the top division under Sergej Jakirovic, who rested a number of first-choice individuals 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 strong position in the Championship," he said. "Keep fighting, maybe in the next games this can be a positive lesson of how we should play."

Hull showed great endeavour to the end, and they almost got a late goal when Lewis Koumas hit a the upright in injury time. But this was Chelsea’s evening, and another positive step forward for their new head coach at a place he is familiar with very well.

Cup History Are Promising

The result resulted in an in the end routine night's work, and the FA Cup-shaped omens are good from here for Chelsea. They have faced Hull on three other times in this tournament in the last decade and every single time, they have gone on to make the final. There is still work in that respect, but this was another huge positive for the Chelsea boss.