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Amid sleet, flurries, and a biting wind from the waters of the Humber, combined with a resolute home side fighting for promotion, this presented all the makings of a difficult night's work for the visitors.

"We might have scored more but the opposition are a strong team and it was a tough fixture; I’m very pleased with the performance," the manager stated. "Hull City is very special to me so it was nice to get a good welcome from both sets of fans. The application of the players was excellent."

Liam Rosenior has this place dear to him, considering some of his relatives hail from Hull and his enjoyable period in management of the Championship club. His positive association was extended with a commanding performance from his squad, who in the end strolled into the fifth round of the FA Cup.

Clinical Edge Secures Comfortable Win

Seventy-two hours after surrendering a 2-0 lead in the Premier League, there was a sniff of vulnerability about them going into this potentially tricky cup clash. The packed Hull crowd clearly sensed it too, but Rosenior's men navigated the task perfectly.

Rosenior made alterations, making seven of them to his starting lineup. The tie might and maybe should have been settled long before it actually was, with both the Brazilian winger and the forward guilty of missing glorious chances to put Chelsea ahead in the first half.

But, fortunately for the visitors, their Portuguese attacker was in a far more clinical frame of mind. He opened the scoring with a spectacular distance strike, which proved to be the spark for Chelsea to take command of proceedings. By the final whistle, they had four, with Neto scoring three of them for a brilliant three-goal haul.

The Forward's Redemption and Influence

Hull displayed plenty of fight all game, but the clearer opportunities consistently came to the visitors. Estêvão ought to have broken the scoring when he went past keeper Dillon Phillips before unbelievably shooting over. The striker then had a similar nightmare incident in front of goal against his former club.

He deflected a the goalkeeper's kick which bounced off the bar, and he started to celebrate thinking the ball had crossed the line. It hadn’t, and by the time he understood, Hull's backline had reacted to avert the danger.

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

Tie Sealed and Focus Turns

Soon after the second, the tie was effectively ended as a magnificent run from Delap teed up Estêvão to slide into an empty net. Neto then finished his treble as Delap once again delivered the decisive ball for the attacker to coolly convert past a stranded Phillips.

At that point, the work Hull had put in in the opening thirty minutes had long since forgotten. Their priority must now switch back to securing a return to the Premier League under Sergej Jakirovic, who rested several first-choice 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 very good position in the Championship," he said. "Never surrender, maybe in the upcoming games this can be a positive example of how we must play."

There was plenty of effort to the end, and they nearly got a late goal when Lewis Koumas struck a the upright in injury time. But this was the Blues' evening, and another positive stride for their recently-appointed manager at a stadium he is familiar with intimately.

FA Cup Omens Look Promising

The result resulted in an in the end routine evening’s work, and the cup competition signs are good from here for the winners. They have played Hull on three previous occasions in this tournament in the past ten years and on each occasion, they have gone on to make the showpiece. There is remains to be work in that regard, but this was another significant positive for the Chelsea boss.