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Amid freezing rain, flurries, and a swirling breeze off the waters of the Humber, combined with a determined home side pushing hard for promotion, this presented all the makings of a difficult night's work for the visitors.

"We could have added to our tally but Hull are a strong team and it was a tough tie; I am very pleased with the performance," the manager stated. "Hull City means a lot to me so it was great to get a good reception from the fans of supporters. The application of the players was excellent."

Liam Rosenior holds this place close to his heart, considering some of his family are from Hull and his enjoyable spell in charge of the Tigers. His positive connection was extended with a commanding display from his squad, who in the end sauntered into the fifth round of the famous old competition.

Clinical Edge Secures Comfortable Victory

Seventy-two hours after letting slip a two-goal lead in the league, there was a sniff of vulnerability about them going into this intriguing tie. The capacity Hull crowd clearly sensed it too, but Rosenior's men navigated the task with ease.

Rosenior made alterations, making multiple of them to his starting lineup. The match could and perhaps should have been decided long before it eventually was, with both Estêvão Willian and the forward at fault for missing glorious opportunities to put Chelsea in front in the first half.

But, fortunately for the visitors, their Portuguese attacker was in a much more clinical mood. He broke the scoring with a marvellous distance strike, which acted as the spark for Chelsea to take command of proceedings. By full time, they had four, with the forward scoring a trio of them for a superb hat-trick.

The Forward's Response and Impact

Hull showed great fight all game, but the clearer opportunities always fell to the visitors. The winger ought to have opened the scoring when he rounded goalkeeper Dillon Phillips before inexplicably firing over. Delap then had a comparable horror incident in front of goal against his old team.

He blocked a the goalkeeper's kick which bounced back from the bar, and he began to celebrate thinking the ball had crossed the line. It had not, and by the time he understood, Hull's defenders had responded to clear the danger.

Delap had his head in his hands after that moment, but he was immensely influential from that point onward, registering three assists. The opening was for the opening goal as his pass set up his teammate to finish from range. Six minutes after the restart, it was two as Neto's corner went directly in under the keeper's legs.

Tie Put Beyond Doubt and Focus Turns

Soon after Neto’s second, the tie was effectively ended as a dazzling dribble from the forward laid on Estêvão to tap into an empty net. Neto then completed his hat-trick as the provider once again played the decisive ball for the attacker to calmly slot past a helpless Phillips.

By that stage, the effort Hull had put in in the first thirty minutes had been erased. Their focus must now return to securing a return to the Premier League under Sergej Jakirovic, who left out several 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 very good situation in the league," the Hull manager commented. "Keep fighting, maybe in the next games this can be a good lesson of how we should play."

There was great endeavour to the final whistle, and they nearly claimed a late goal when Lewis Koumas hit a the upright in stoppage time. But this was Chelsea’s evening, and another positive stride for their new manager at a stadium he is familiar with very well.

FA Cup Omens Are Promising

The result made for an in the end straightforward evening’s work, and the cup competition signs are positive from here for the winners. They have played Hull on three previous times in this competition in the last decade and every single time, they have gone on to reach the showpiece. Much remains to be work in that regard, but this was another significant positive for Rosenior.