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Amid sleet, flurries, and a biting wind off the waters of the Humber Estuary, alongside a resolute Hull City side fighting for promotion, this presented all the ingredients of a challenging night's task for Chelsea.

"We might have scored more but Hull are a good team and it was a tough fixture; I’m very pleased with the performance," the manager stated. "This club means a lot to me so it was nice to get a good welcome from both sets of supporters. The application of the players was excellent."

Liam Chelsea manager holds this place close to his heart, given some of his relatives are from Hull and his enjoyable spell in management of the Championship club. His positive connection was extended with a commanding display from his squad, who in the end sauntered into the fifth round of the FA Cup.

Deadly Edge Secures Comprehensive Win

Three days removed from letting slip a two-goal advantage in the league, there was a sniff of fragility about them going into this potentially tricky tie. The packed Hull support evidently sensed it too, but Rosenior's men navigated the challenge with ease.

The manager made alterations, enacting multiple of them to his XI. The tie could and perhaps ought to have been decided long before it eventually was, with both Estêvão Willian and the forward guilty of spurning excellent chances to put Chelsea ahead in the opening period.

But, luckily for the visitors, Pedro Neto was in a much more clinical mood. He broke the deadlock with a spectacular distance effort, which proved to be the catalyst for Chelsea to assume command of the match. By full time, they had four, with Neto netting a trio of them for a brilliant three-goal haul.

The Forward's Redemption and Impact

Hull showed great fight all game, but the better opportunities consistently fell to the visitors. Estêvão should have opened the deadlock when he rounded goalkeeper Dillon Phillips before unbelievably firing over. The striker then had a comparable horror moment in front of goal against his old team.

He deflected a Phillips's clearance which came back from the bar, and Delap began to celebrate thinking the ball had gone over the line. It hadn’t, and by the time he understood, Hull's backline had reacted to avert the threat.

Delap had his head in his hands after that moment, but he was hugely instrumental from that point onward, providing 3 key passes. The opening was for the opening goal as his through ball set up Neto to finish from range. Shortly after the second half began, it was 2-0 as Neto's corner went straight in under the keeper's legs.

Contest Sealed and Attention Turns

Seven minutes after the second, the match was effectively ended as a magnificent dribble from Delap teed up Estêvão to slide into an unguarded goal. Neto then finished his treble as Delap again delivered the crucial ball for the attacker to coolly convert past a helpless Phillips.

By that stage, the work Hull had put in in the first thirty minutes had long since forgotten. Their focus must now switch back to achieving a promotion to the Premier League under Sergej Jakirovic, who left out a number of first-choice players with that aim 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 good example of how we should play."

There was plenty of effort to the end, and they almost claimed a late goal when a substitute struck a the upright in injury time. But this was the Blues' night, and another encouraging step forward for their recently-appointed head coach at a place he knows very well.

FA Cup History Look Promising

The result resulted in an in the end straightforward evening’s performance, and the FA Cup-shaped signs are positive from here for Chelsea. They have played Hull on three previous times in this competition in the past ten years and every single time, they have gone on to make the showpiece. There is still work in that respect, but this was another huge tick for Rosenior.