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Amid sleet, snow, and a swirling wind off the waters of the Humber Estuary, alongside a determined home side pushing hard for a top-flight place, this presented all the ingredients of a difficult evening’s task for the visitors.

"We might have added to our tally but Hull are a good team and it was a difficult fixture; I am very pleased with the performance," the manager stated. "This club means a lot to me so it was nice to get a positive welcome from the fans of supporters. The application of the players was excellent."

Liam Chelsea manager has this city close to his heart, considering some of his relatives hail from Hull and his successful period in charge of the Championship club. This positive association continued with a commanding performance from his squad, who in the end strolled into the fifth round of the famous old competition.

Deadly Edge Secures Comprehensive Victory

Three days removed from surrendering a two-goal advantage in the league, there was a hint of fragility about them going into this potentially tricky tie. The capacity home support evidently sensed it too, but the London side handled the task perfectly.

Rosenior made alterations, making multiple of them to his starting lineup. The tie could and perhaps should have been settled long before it eventually was, with two Estêvão Willian and the forward at fault for spurning glorious chances to put Chelsea in front in the opening period.

However, luckily for the visitors, Pedro Neto was in a far more ruthless frame of mind. He broke the scoring with a spectacular distance effort, which proved to be the spark for Chelsea to take command of proceedings. By full time, they had 4 goals, with Neto netting a trio of them for a brilliant hat-trick.

The Forward's Redemption and Impact

The home side displayed great spirit throughout, but the better opportunities consistently fell to the visitors. Estêvão should have opened the scoring when he rounded keeper Dillon Phillips before inexplicably shooting over. Delap then had a similar nightmare incident in front of goal against his former club.

He blocked a Phillips's clearance which bounced off the bar, and Delap began to celebrate thinking the ball had gone over the line. It had not, and by the time he understood, Hull's defenders 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, registering three key passes. The opening was for the first goal as his pass teed up Neto to score from range. Six minutes after the restart, it was 2-0 as Neto's set-piece went directly in through Phillips's legs.

Tie Put Beyond Doubt and Focus Shifts

Soon after the second goal, the match was effectively ended as a magnificent dribble from Delap laid on Estêvão to slide into an unguarded goal. The hat-trick hero then finished his treble as the provider once again delivered the decisive ball for the striker to calmly slot past a stranded goalkeeper.

At that point, the effort Hull had done in the first thirty minutes had been forgotten. Their priority must now switch back to achieving a promotion to the Premier League under Sergej Jakirovic, who rested several key 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 position in the Championship," the Hull manager commented. "Never surrender, maybe in the upcoming games this can be a positive example of how we should play."

Hull showed great endeavour to the end, and they nearly claimed a consolation when a substitute hit a the upright in stoppage time. But this was Chelsea’s evening, and another encouraging step forward for their recently-appointed manager at a stadium he is familiar with very well.

FA Cup History Are Good

The result made for an ultimately routine night's performance, and the FA Cup-shaped omens are positive from here for the winners. They have faced 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 remains to be done in that respect, but this was another huge tick for Rosenior.