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Against a backdrop of sleet, snow, and a swirling breeze from the banks of the Humber, alongside a resolute Hull City side pushing hard for promotion, this presented all the makings of a challenging evening’s task for the visitors.

"We could have scored more but Hull are a good team and it was a difficult tie; I’m delighted with the performance," he said. "Hull City is very special to me so it was nice to get a good welcome from both sets of supporters. The attitude of the players was excellent."

Liam Rosenior has this place close to his heart, given part of his family are from Hull and his enjoyable spell in management of the Championship club. This positive connection was extended with a commanding performance from his team, who ultimately sauntered into the fifth round of the famous old competition.

Deadly Finishing Secures Comfortable Victory

Three days removed from surrendering a 2-0 advantage in the Premier League, there was a hint of vulnerability about them going into this intriguing cup clash. The packed Hull crowd evidently sensed it too, but the London side navigated the challenge with ease.

Rosenior made alterations, enacting multiple of them to his starting lineup. The tie might and maybe should have been decided long before it actually was, with both Estêvão Willian and Liam Delap guilty of spurning glorious opportunities to put their side in front in the opening period.

However, luckily for the away team, Pedro Neto was in a far more ruthless frame of mind. He broke the deadlock with a spectacular distance strike, which proved to be the spark for Chelsea to assume command of proceedings. By full time, they had four, with Neto scoring three of them for a superb hat-trick.

Delap's Redemption and Influence

Hull showed plenty of spirit all game, but the better chances always fell Chelsea’s way. Estêvão should have opened the scoring when he rounded goalkeeper the Hull stopper before inexplicably firing over. The striker then had a similar horror incident in front of goal against his former club.

He deflected a Phillips's kick which came off the crossbar, and Delap began to celebrate thinking the ball had crossed the line. It hadn’t, and by the time he understood, Hull's backline had responded to clear the threat.

The player had his head in his hands after that moment, but he was hugely influential from that point onward, registering 3 key passes. The first was for the opening goal as his pass set up Neto to finish from range. Six minutes after the second half began, it was two as the forward's corner went directly in through Phillips's legs.

Tie Put Beyond Doubt and Attention Shifts

Soon after the second goal, the match was put beyond doubt as a dazzling dribble from Delap teed up Estêvão to tap into an empty net. The hat-trick hero then completed his treble as the provider again delivered the decisive ball for the attacker to coolly slot past a helpless goalkeeper.

At that point, the work Hull had put in in the first half-hour had long since forgotten. Their priority must now return to achieving a promotion to the top division under Sergej Jakirovic, who left out a number of key individuals with that aim in mind.

"I think we deserved at least one goal but if we perform like this we will be in a strong situation in the league," the Hull manager commented. "Never surrender, maybe in the upcoming matches this can be a good example of how we must play."

Hull showed great endeavour to the final whistle, and they almost got a late goal when Lewis Koumas struck a post in injury time. But this was Chelsea’s night, and another encouraging step forward for their new head coach at a stadium he is familiar with intimately.

Cup Omens Are Promising

That made for an in the end routine night's work, and the FA Cup-shaped signs are good from here for the winners. They have played Hull on three other times in this tournament in the past ten years 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 tick for Rosenior.