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Amid freezing rain, snow, and a biting wind from the banks of the Humber, combined with a determined Hull City side fighting for a top-flight place, this had all the ingredients of a difficult night's task for the visitors.

"We could have scored more but Hull are a strong team and it was a tough fixture; I’m very pleased with the performance," he said. "This club means a lot to me so it was great to get a positive welcome from the fans of fans. The attitude of the lads was superb."

Liam Rosenior holds this place close to his heart, considering part of his relatives hail from Hull and his successful spell in management of the Championship club. This positive association continued with a magnificent performance from his squad, who ultimately sauntered into the fifth round of the famous old competition.

Clinical Finishing Seals Comfortable Win

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

The manager made alterations, making multiple of them to his starting lineup. The match might and perhaps should have been decided long before it actually was, with both the Brazilian winger and the forward guilty of spurning excellent opportunities to put their side ahead in the opening period.

But, luckily for the away team, Pedro Neto was in a far more clinical frame of mind. He broke the deadlock with a marvellous long-range strike, which acted as the spark for his team to assume command of proceedings. By the final whistle, they had 4 goals, with Neto netting three of them for a superb three-goal haul.

Delap's Response and Impact

Hull displayed plenty of spirit throughout, but the better chances always came Chelsea’s way. Estêvão ought to have opened the scoring when he went past keeper Dillon Phillips before inexplicably shooting over. The striker then had a similar horror incident in front of goal against his old team.

He deflected a Phillips's kick which bounced back from the bar, and he started to run away thinking the ball had crossed the line. It hadn’t, and by the time he realised, Hull's backline had responded to avert the danger.

The player had his head in his hands after that moment, but he was immensely influential from there on out, registering 3 key passes. The first was for the opening goal as his pass teed up Neto to score from range. Shortly after the second half began, it was two as the forward's corner went directly in under the keeper's legs.

Tie Put Beyond Doubt and Focus Turns

Seven minutes after Neto’s second, the tie was put beyond doubt as a dazzling dribble from Delap laid on his teammate to tap into an empty net. Neto then completed his treble as Delap again delivered the decisive pass for the attacker to calmly convert by a helpless goalkeeper.

At that point, the effort Hull had done in the first half-hour had been forgotten. Their priority must now switch back to achieving 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 perform like this we will be in a very good position in the league," he said. "Keep fighting, maybe in the next matches this can be a positive example of how we should play."

Hull showed great endeavour to the final whistle, and they nearly got a consolation when Lewis Koumas struck a the upright in injury time. But this was Chelsea’s evening, and another positive step forward for their new manager at a place he is familiar with intimately.

Cup Omens Are Good

The result made for an in the end straightforward evening’s work, and the FA Cup-shaped omens are good from here for Chelsea. They have played Hull on three other occasions in this tournament in the past ten years and every single time, they have gone on to reach the showpiece. Much still work in that respect, but this was another huge tick for the Chelsea boss.