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Amid sleet, snow, and a swirling wind from the banks of the Humber Estuary, combined with a determined home side fighting for promotion, this presented all the ingredients of a difficult evening’s work for Chelsea.

"We could have scored more but the opposition are a strong team and it was a difficult fixture; I’m very pleased with the display," he said. "This club means a lot to me so it was nice to get a positive welcome from both sets of fans. The attitude of the players was excellent."

The Chelsea manager has this place dear to him, considering part of his relatives hail from Hull and his successful period in management of the Championship club. This happy connection continued with a magnificent display from his squad, who in the end strolled into the fifth round of the famous old competition.

Clinical Edge Seals Comprehensive Victory

Seventy-two hours removed from letting slip a 2-0 lead in the league, there was a hint of fragility about them going into this potentially tricky cup clash. The packed home support clearly sensed it too, but Rosenior's men handled the task with ease.

Rosenior made alterations, enacting multiple of them to his XI. The match could and maybe should have been decided earlier than it actually was, with two Estêvão Willian and the forward at fault for missing excellent chances to put Chelsea ahead in the opening period.

However, fortunately for the away team, Pedro Neto was in a far more clinical frame of mind. He broke the deadlock with a spectacular distance effort, which acted as the catalyst for his team to take command of proceedings. By the final whistle, they had 4 goals, with Neto scoring a trio of them for a superb hat-trick.

Delap's Redemption and Impact

Hull showed plenty of spirit throughout, but the better chances consistently fell Chelsea’s way. Estêvão should have broken the scoring when he rounded goalkeeper the Hull stopper before unbelievably firing over. Delap then had a comparable nightmare moment in front of goal against his former club.

He deflected a Phillips's clearance which bounced off the bar, and he started to celebrate thinking the ball had crossed the line. It hadn’t, and by the time he understood, Hull's backline had responded to avert the danger.

Delap had his head in his hands after that miss, but he was immensely influential from there on out, registering 3 key passes. The opening was for the first goal as his through ball set up his teammate to score from outside the box. Six minutes after the restart, it was two as the forward's corner went directly in through the keeper's legs.

Tie Put Beyond Doubt and Focus Turns

Soon after the second, the match was put beyond doubt as a dazzling run from Delap laid on his teammate to tap into an empty net. Neto then completed his hat-trick as the provider once again delivered the crucial pass for the striker to calmly convert past a stranded Phillips.

By that stage, the effort Hull had put in in the opening half-hour had been erased. Their priority must now switch back to achieving a return to the Premier League under their manager, who rested a number of key players with that goal 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 great effort to the end, and they almost claimed a late goal when a substitute struck a post in injury time. But this was the Blues' night, and another encouraging stride for their new head coach at a stadium he is familiar with very well.

FA Cup Omens Look Good

That made for an in the end straightforward night's work, and the FA Cup-shaped omens are good from here for Chelsea. They have played Hull on three previous times in this tournament in the past ten years and on each occasion, they have progressed to reach the showpiece. There is still work in that respect, but this was another significant positive for the Chelsea boss.