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Amid sleet, snow, and a biting wind off the banks of the Humber Estuary, alongside a resolute Hull City side fighting for a top-flight place, this presented all the ingredients of a challenging night's task for the visitors.

"We could have scored more but Hull are a strong team and it was a difficult tie; I am delighted with the display," the manager stated. "Hull City is very special to me so it was nice to get a positive reception from the fans of supporters. The attitude of the lads was superb."

The Chelsea manager holds this place dear to him, considering part of his relatives are from Hull and his enjoyable spell in charge of the Tigers. His happy connection was extended with a commanding performance from his squad, who in the end strolled into the fifth round of the famous old competition.

Clinical Finishing Seals Comprehensive Victory

Three days after surrendering a two-goal lead in the league, there was a sniff of vulnerability about Chelsea going into this intriguing cup clash. The packed home crowd clearly sensed it too, but the London side handled the challenge with ease.

Rosenior rang the changes, enacting multiple of them to his starting lineup. The tie could and maybe should have been decided earlier than it actually was, with both the Brazilian winger and the forward guilty of spurning glorious chances to put their side ahead in the first half.

But, fortunately for the away team, Pedro Neto was in a far more ruthless mood. He broke the scoring with a spectacular distance effort, which proved to be the catalyst for Chelsea to assume command of the match. By full time, they had 4 goals, with Neto netting a trio of them for a brilliant three-goal haul.

Delap's Redemption and Influence

The home side showed great spirit throughout, but the better chances always came to the visitors. Estêvão ought to have broken the deadlock when he went past keeper Dillon Phillips before unbelievably shooting over. Delap then had a similar horror moment in front of goal against his former club.

He blocked a Phillips's kick which bounced back from the bar, and Delap began to celebrate thinking the ball had gone over the line. It had not, and by the time he understood, Hull's backline had reacted to avert the threat.

Delap had his head in his hands after that moment, but he was immensely influential from that point onward, registering 3 assists. The first was for the opening goal as his pass teed up Neto to score from outside the box. Shortly after the restart, it was 2-0 as Neto's set-piece went straight in through the keeper's legs.

Tie Put Beyond Doubt and Focus Shifts

Seven minutes after Neto’s second, the match was put beyond doubt as a magnificent run from the forward teed up Estêvão to slide into an empty net. Neto then finished his hat-trick as Delap once again delivered the decisive ball for the attacker to coolly slot by a helpless goalkeeper.

At that point, the effort Hull had done in the opening thirty minutes had been erased. Their priority must now return to securing a promotion to the top division under their manager, who rested a number of key players with that goal in mind.

"In my opinion we earned at least one goal but if we perform like this we will be in a very good situation in the Championship," he said. "Keep fighting, maybe in the upcoming matches this can be a good lesson of how we must play."

There was plenty of endeavour to the final whistle, and they nearly claimed a late goal when a substitute struck a the upright in stoppage time. But this was the Blues' evening, and another encouraging stride for their new manager at a stadium he is familiar with intimately.

Cup Omens Look Good

That resulted in an in the end routine night's work, and the FA Cup-shaped omens are good from here for the winners. They have played Hull on three other times in this competition in the last decade and on each occasion, they have progressed to reach the showpiece. Much remains to be done in that regard, but this was another huge positive for Rosenior.