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Against a backdrop of sleet, flurries, and a swirling breeze off the banks of the Humber, combined with a resolute Hull City side pushing hard for promotion, this had all the ingredients of a difficult evening’s task for Chelsea.

"We might have added to our tally but the opposition are a good team and it was a tough fixture; I’m very pleased with the display," the manager stated. "Hull City is very special to me so it was nice to get a positive welcome from both sets of supporters. The application of the players was superb."

The Chelsea manager has this place dear to him, given some of his relatives hail from Hull and his successful spell in management of the Championship club. His happy connection was extended with a commanding display from his team, who ultimately strolled into the fifth round of the FA Cup.

Clinical Finishing Seals Comfortable 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 intriguing tie. The capacity home support clearly sensed it too, but Rosenior's men handled the task perfectly.

Rosenior rang the changes, enacting multiple of them to his XI. The match might and perhaps ought to have been decided long before it eventually was, with two Estêvão Willian and the forward guilty of spurning glorious opportunities to put Chelsea ahead in the opening period.

But, fortunately for the visitors, Pedro Neto was in a far more ruthless frame of mind. He opened the scoring with a marvellous distance strike, which proved to be the spark for Chelsea to take command of the match. By full time, they had four, with the forward scoring a trio of them for a superb hat-trick.

The Forward's Response and Influence

Hull displayed plenty of fight throughout, but the clearer opportunities always came to the visitors. The winger ought to have broken the scoring when he went past keeper the Hull stopper before inexplicably firing over. The striker then had a similar nightmare incident in front of goal against his old team.

He blocked a Phillips's clearance which bounced off the bar, and Delap started to run away thinking the ball had gone over the line. It hadn’t, and by the time he understood, Hull's backline had responded to clear the danger.

The player had his head in his hands after that moment, but he was hugely influential from that point onward, providing 3 key passes. The first was for the opening goal as his pass set up his teammate to finish from range. Shortly after the second half began, it was 2-0 as Neto's corner went directly in under the keeper's legs.

Contest Put Beyond Doubt and Focus Turns

Seven minutes after the second goal, the tie was put beyond doubt as a magnificent run from Delap teed up Estêvão to slide into an unguarded goal. The hat-trick hero then finished his treble as Delap again delivered the crucial pass for the attacker to coolly convert by a helpless goalkeeper.

By that stage, the work Hull had put in in the first thirty minutes had long since forgotten. Their priority must now switch back to achieving a promotion to the top division under Sergej Jakirovic, who rested several key individuals with that goal in mind.

"I think we earned at least one goal but if we play like this we will be in a strong situation in the league," he said. "Never surrender, maybe in the next matches this can be a good lesson of how we should play."

There was great effort to the end, and they almost got a late goal when a substitute struck a the upright in stoppage time. But this was the Blues' evening, and another positive step forward for their recently-appointed head coach at a place he knows very well.

FA Cup Omens Look Promising

The result resulted in an in the end routine night's performance, and the FA Cup-shaped signs are positive from here for the winners. They have played Hull on three other occasions in this tournament in the past ten years and on each occasion, they have gone on to make the showpiece. Much remains to be work in that regard, but this was another huge tick for the Chelsea boss.