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Against a backdrop of freezing rain, flurries, and a biting wind from the waters of the Humber, combined with a resolute home side pushing hard for promotion, this presented all the ingredients of a difficult evening’s task for Chelsea.

"We could have added to our tally but the opposition are a good team and it was a difficult tie; I’m delighted with the performance," he said. "This club is very special to me so it was nice to get a good reception from both sets of supporters. The application of the players was excellent."

Liam Chelsea manager has this place close to his heart, given part of his family are from Hull and his enjoyable spell in charge of the Championship club. His positive connection was extended with a magnificent performance from his squad, who ultimately sauntered into the fifth round of the famous old competition.

Clinical Finishing Seals Comprehensive Win

Seventy-two hours removed from surrendering a 2-0 lead in the league, there was a sniff of vulnerability about them going into this potentially tricky cup clash. The capacity home crowd evidently felt it too, but Rosenior's men navigated the challenge perfectly.

Rosenior made alterations, making multiple of them to his starting lineup. The tie could and maybe ought to have been settled earlier than it actually was, with two Estêvão Willian and the forward at fault for missing excellent chances to put Chelsea in front in the opening period.

But, fortunately for the away team, Pedro Neto was in a far more ruthless mood. He broke the deadlock with a spectacular distance strike, which acted as the catalyst for Chelsea to assume control of proceedings. By the final whistle, they had four, with the forward netting a trio of them for a superb hat-trick.

The Forward's Redemption and Influence

Hull displayed plenty of fight throughout, but the better chances always came to the visitors. Estêvão ought to have broken the scoring when he rounded keeper the Hull stopper before inexplicably firing over. The striker then had a comparable horror incident in front of goal against his old team.

He blocked a Phillips's clearance which bounced off the crossbar, and Delap started to run away believing the ball had crossed the line. It had not, and by the time he understood, Hull's defenders had responded to avert the danger.

Delap had his head in his hands after that miss, but he was immensely instrumental from there on out, providing three assists. The first was for the opening goal as his pass teed up Neto to finish from range. Shortly after the second half began, it was two as Neto's corner went directly in through Phillips's legs.

Tie Put Beyond Doubt and Focus Shifts

Seven minutes after Neto’s second goal, the tie was effectively ended as a dazzling run from Delap teed up his teammate to slide into an empty net. Neto then completed his hat-trick as the provider once again delivered the decisive pass for the attacker to calmly convert by a stranded Phillips.

By that stage, the effort Hull had put in in the first thirty minutes had long since erased. Their focus must now switch back to achieving a promotion to the top division under Sergej Jakirovic, who left out several first-choice players with that aim in mind.

"I think we deserved 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 next matches this can be a good lesson of how we should play."

There was plenty of endeavour to the end, and they nearly got a late goal when Lewis Koumas struck a post in injury time. But this was Chelsea’s night, and another positive stride for their recently-appointed head coach at a place he knows intimately.

FA Cup History Are Good

The result resulted in an ultimately straightforward evening’s performance, and the cup competition omens are good from here for Chelsea. They have faced Hull on three other times in this competition in the last decade and every single time, they have progressed to reach the showpiece. Much remains to be work in that regard, but this was another significant positive for the Chelsea boss.