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Amid sleet, flurries, and a swirling breeze from the banks of the Humber, combined with a determined Hull City side pushing hard for a top-flight place, this had all the makings of a challenging night's work for the visitors.

"We might have added to our tally but the opposition are a strong 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 reception from both sets of supporters. The attitude of the lads was superb."

Liam Rosenior holds this place close to his heart, given part of his relatives are from Hull and his enjoyable spell in management of the Tigers. This happy connection was extended with a magnificent performance from his team, who in the end sauntered into the fifth round of the FA Cup.

Clinical Finishing Secures Comfortable Win

Seventy-two hours removed from surrendering a 2-0 advantage in the Premier League, there was a sniff of vulnerability about Chelsea going into this intriguing cup clash. The capacity home support evidently felt it too, but the London side navigated the task with ease.

Rosenior rang the changes, making multiple of them to his XI. The match might and perhaps should have been decided long before it eventually was, with two the Brazilian winger and the forward at fault for missing glorious opportunities to put Chelsea in front in the opening period.

However, luckily for the visitors, Pedro Neto was in a far more clinical mood. He opened the scoring with a spectacular long-range strike, which acted as the catalyst for Chelsea to take control of proceedings. By the final whistle, they had 4 goals, with Neto scoring three of them for a superb three-goal haul.

The Forward's Response and Influence

The home side showed plenty of spirit all game, but the better opportunities consistently fell Chelsea’s way. The winger should have broken the scoring when he rounded goalkeeper Dillon Phillips before inexplicably shooting over. Delap then had a similar horror moment in front of goal against his former club.

He deflected a Phillips's clearance which came off the bar, and Delap began to run away thinking the ball had crossed the line. It hadn’t, and by the time he understood, Hull's backline had responded to clear the danger.

The player had his head in his hands after that miss, but he was immensely influential from that point onward, registering three assists. The opening was for the first goal as his pass teed up his teammate to score from range. Shortly after the second half began, it was 2-0 as Neto's set-piece went straight in under Phillips's legs.

Tie Sealed and Focus Shifts

Seven minutes after the second, the tie was put beyond doubt as a dazzling run from Delap laid on Estêvão to tap into an empty net. Neto then completed his hat-trick as Delap again played the decisive ball for the attacker to coolly slot past a stranded goalkeeper.

At that point, the effort Hull had done in the first half-hour had long since forgotten. Their focus must now switch back to achieving a promotion to the Premier League under their manager, who rested several first-choice individuals with that aim in mind.

"I think we deserved at least one goal but if we play like this we will be in a strong situation in the league," the Hull manager commented. "Keep fighting, maybe in the next matches this can be a good lesson of how we must play."

There was great effort to the end, and they nearly got a consolation when a substitute hit a post in injury time. But this was Chelsea’s night, and another positive step forward for their recently-appointed manager at a place he knows intimately.

FA Cup Omens Look Good

The result resulted in an in the end routine 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 tournament in the past ten years and every single time, they have gone on to reach the final. There is remains to be work in that regard, but this was another huge tick for the Chelsea boss.