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Amid sleet, snow, and a swirling wind off the waters of the Humber Estuary, alongside a resolute home side pushing hard for a top-flight place, this presented all the makings of a challenging night's work for Chelsea.

"We might have scored more but Hull are a good team and it was a tough tie; I am very pleased with the display," the manager stated. "This club is very special to me so it was nice to get a good reception from the fans of supporters. The application of the lads was superb."

Liam Chelsea manager has this place dear to him, considering part of his relatives are from Hull and his successful period in charge of the Tigers. His positive association continued with a magnificent performance from his team, who in the end strolled into the fifth round of the FA Cup.

Deadly Edge Seals Comprehensive Win

Seventy-two hours after letting slip a two-goal lead in the league, there was a hint of fragility about them going into this potentially tricky cup clash. The capacity home crowd evidently felt it too, but Rosenior's men navigated the task with ease.

The manager rang the changes, enacting multiple of them to his XI. The match could and maybe should have been settled earlier than it actually was, with both the Brazilian winger and Liam Delap at fault for missing glorious opportunities to put their side ahead in the opening period.

But, luckily for the visitors, their Portuguese attacker was in a far more clinical frame of mind. He opened the deadlock with a marvellous long-range strike, which proved to be the spark for Chelsea to assume command of proceedings. By the final whistle, they had 4 goals, with Neto netting a trio of them for a brilliant hat-trick.

Delap's Redemption and Influence

The home side displayed great fight throughout, but the clearer chances always came to the visitors. Estêvão ought to have opened the deadlock when he rounded keeper the Hull stopper before unbelievably firing over. The striker then had a similar nightmare moment in front of goal against his old team.

He blocked a the goalkeeper's clearance which bounced back from the bar, and he began to run away believing the ball had gone over the line. It hadn’t, and by the time he understood, Hull's backline had responded to clear the threat.

Delap had his head in his hands after that moment, but he was immensely influential from that point onward, providing 3 assists. The opening was for the first goal as his through ball teed up his teammate to finish from outside the box. Shortly after the second half began, it was 2-0 as the forward's corner went straight in through the keeper's legs.

Contest Put Beyond Doubt and Attention Turns

Soon after Neto’s second, the match was effectively ended as a dazzling dribble from the forward laid on Estêvão to tap into an empty net. The hat-trick hero then finished his hat-trick as the provider again played the crucial ball for the striker to calmly slot past a helpless Phillips.

By that stage, the work Hull had done in the first thirty minutes had long since erased. Their priority must now switch back to securing a return to the Premier League under their manager, who rested several first-choice players with that aim in mind.

"In my opinion we deserved at least one goal but if we play like this we will be in a very good situation in the Championship," he said. "Never surrender, maybe in the upcoming games this can be a good lesson of how we must play."

Hull showed great effort to the final whistle, and they almost got a consolation when Lewis Koumas hit a the upright in stoppage time. But this was Chelsea’s evening, and another encouraging stride for their new manager at a stadium he is familiar with very well.

FA Cup History Look Good

That made for an in the end straightforward evening’s performance, and the cup competition omens are good from here for the winners. They have played Hull on three other occasions in this competition in the last decade and on each occasion, they have gone on to make the showpiece. There is still work in that respect, but this was another huge positive for the Chelsea boss.