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Amid freezing rain, snow, and a biting wind off the waters of the Humber, alongside a resolute Hull City side fighting for promotion, this had all the makings of a difficult night's task for Chelsea.

"We might have scored more but the opposition are a strong team and it was a tough tie; I’m delighted with the display," he said. "Hull City means a lot to me so it was nice to get a good welcome from the fans of supporters. The application of the players was excellent."

The Rosenior holds this place dear to him, considering some of his family are from Hull and his successful spell in management of the Tigers. His positive association was extended with a commanding display from his team, who ultimately strolled into the fifth round of the famous old competition.

Clinical Edge Seals Comfortable Victory

Seventy-two hours after surrendering a two-goal lead in the league, there was a sniff of fragility about them going into this intriguing cup clash. The capacity home crowd evidently felt it too, but Rosenior's men handled the task with ease.

Rosenior rang the changes, enacting multiple of them to his starting lineup. The match could and maybe should have been settled long before it actually was, with both Estêvão Willian and the forward at fault for spurning excellent opportunities to put their side ahead in the first half.

But, luckily for the away team, Pedro Neto was in a far more clinical frame of mind. He broke the deadlock with a marvellous distance strike, which proved to be the catalyst for his team to take control of the match. By the final whistle, they had four, with Neto scoring a trio of them for a brilliant three-goal haul.

Delap's Redemption and Influence

Hull showed great spirit all game, but the better opportunities always fell to the visitors. Estêvão ought to have broken the scoring when he went past keeper Dillon Phillips before inexplicably shooting over. The striker then had a comparable nightmare moment in front of goal against his former club.

He deflected a the goalkeeper's clearance which bounced back from the crossbar, and he began 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 threat.

The player had his head in his hands after that miss, but he was immensely instrumental from that point onward, registering 3 assists. The first was for the first goal as his pass teed up his teammate to score from outside the box. Shortly after the second half began, it was two as the forward's set-piece went straight in through Phillips's legs.

Tie Sealed and Focus Shifts

Soon after the second goal, the tie was put beyond doubt as a magnificent run from the forward laid on Estêvão to tap into an unguarded goal. The hat-trick hero then completed his treble as the provider again delivered the crucial ball for the attacker to calmly convert by a helpless goalkeeper.

By that stage, the effort Hull had put in in the first thirty minutes had long since erased. Their focus must now return to securing a promotion to the Premier League under Sergej Jakirovic, who left out several key players with that aim in mind.

"I think we deserved at least one goal but if we play like this we will be in a very good situation in the Championship," he said. "Never surrender, maybe in the upcoming games this can be a positive lesson of how we should play."

There was plenty of endeavour to the end, and they nearly got a late goal when Lewis Koumas hit a the upright in stoppage time. But this was the Blues' night, and another positive stride for their recently-appointed head coach at a stadium he knows intimately.

FA Cup History Look Promising

That resulted in an ultimately routine evening’s work, and the cup competition omens are good from here for the winners. They have played Hull on three previous occasions in this tournament in the last decade and every single time, they have progressed to make the final. There is remains to be work in that regard, but this was another significant positive for Rosenior.