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Amid sleet, snow, and a swirling breeze from the waters of the Humber, combined with a resolute home side pushing hard for promotion, this presented all the ingredients of a challenging night's task for the visitors.

"We could have scored more but the opposition are a good team and it was a tough tie; I’m very pleased with the display," he said. "This club means a lot to me so it was nice to get a good welcome from both sets of supporters. The application of the players was excellent."

Liam Chelsea manager has this place close to his heart, given some of his family hail from Hull and his enjoyable period in charge of the Tigers. His happy connection continued with a magnificent display from his team, who ultimately sauntered into the fifth round of the FA Cup.

Deadly Finishing Seals Comprehensive Win

Three days removed from letting slip a 2-0 advantage in the Premier League, there was a hint of fragility about them going into this potentially tricky cup clash. The packed home crowd clearly felt it too, but Rosenior's men navigated the challenge perfectly.

The manager rang the changes, enacting seven of them to his XI. The match might and perhaps ought to have been settled long before it eventually was, with both the Brazilian winger and the forward guilty of spurning glorious opportunities to put Chelsea in front in the opening period.

But, luckily for the away team, Pedro Neto was in a far more clinical frame of mind. He opened the deadlock with a marvellous long-range effort, which proved to be the catalyst for his team to assume command of proceedings. By full time, they had four, with Neto scoring three of them for a superb three-goal haul.

Delap's Response and Influence

Hull showed great spirit throughout, but the better chances consistently came Chelsea’s way. The winger ought to have opened the scoring when he rounded keeper the Hull stopper before inexplicably firing over. Delap then had a comparable nightmare incident in front of goal against his old team.

He blocked a the goalkeeper's kick which came off the crossbar, and he started to celebrate thinking the ball had crossed the line. It had not, and by the time he understood, Hull's defenders had reacted to clear the danger.

Delap had his head in his hands after that moment, but he was immensely instrumental from that point onward, providing three key passes. The first was for the opening goal as his through ball set up Neto to finish from outside the box. Six minutes after the restart, it was two as the forward's corner went directly in under the keeper's legs.

Contest Sealed and Attention Turns

Soon after the second, the tie was effectively ended as a magnificent dribble from the forward teed up Estêvão to tap into an unguarded goal. Neto then completed his hat-trick as the provider again delivered the crucial pass for the striker to calmly convert by a helpless goalkeeper.

By that stage, the effort Hull had put in in the opening half-hour had been forgotten. Their priority must now switch back to achieving a return to the top division under their manager, who left out several key players with that goal in mind.

"I think we deserved at least one goal but if we perform like this we will be in a strong position in the league," he said. "Keep fighting, maybe in the upcoming matches this can be a positive lesson of how we should play."

There was great endeavour to the final whistle, and they almost claimed a late goal when a substitute struck a post in stoppage time. But this was Chelsea’s evening, and another positive stride for their recently-appointed head coach at a stadium he knows very well.

Cup History Look Promising

The result resulted in an in the end routine evening’s performance, and the cup competition signs are positive from here for the winners. They have faced Hull on three previous times in this tournament in the past ten years and every single time, they have progressed to make the showpiece. There is still done in that regard, but this was another significant positive for Rosenior.