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Amid freezing rain, snow, and a swirling wind off the waters of the Humber, combined with a resolute home side fighting for promotion, this presented all the makings of a difficult evening’s work for Chelsea.

"We could have added to our tally but the opposition are a strong team and it was a difficult fixture; I’m very pleased with the display," the manager stated. "This club is very special to me so it was great to get a positive reception from both sets of fans. The attitude of the lads was superb."

Liam Chelsea manager has this city dear to him, given some of his relatives hail from Hull and his successful period in management of the Championship club. This positive connection continued with a commanding performance from his team, who in the end sauntered into the fifth round of the famous old competition.

Clinical Edge Secures Comfortable Victory

Seventy-two hours removed from letting slip a 2-0 advantage in the league, there was a hint of vulnerability about Chelsea going into this potentially tricky tie. The capacity Hull crowd evidently felt it too, but Rosenior's men navigated the challenge perfectly.

Rosenior made alterations, making multiple of them to his starting lineup. The tie could and maybe should have been settled long before it actually was, with both the Brazilian winger and the forward at fault for missing excellent chances to put Chelsea ahead in the first half.

However, fortunately for the away team, their Portuguese attacker was in a much more clinical frame of mind. He opened the deadlock with a spectacular long-range effort, which proved to be the catalyst for his team to assume control of proceedings. By full time, they had four, with the forward scoring three of them for a brilliant hat-trick.

The Forward's Redemption and Impact

Hull showed plenty of fight all game, but the clearer chances consistently came Chelsea’s way. The winger should have broken the scoring when he rounded goalkeeper the Hull stopper before inexplicably firing over. The striker then had a comparable nightmare incident in front of goal against his old team.

He blocked a Phillips's clearance which bounced off the bar, and Delap began to celebrate thinking the ball had crossed the line. It had not, and by the time he understood, Hull's defenders had responded to clear the threat.

Delap had his head in his hands after that moment, but he was hugely instrumental from that point onward, registering three key passes. The first was for the first goal as his through ball set up his teammate to score from range. Six minutes after the second half began, it was two as the forward's corner went straight in under the keeper's legs.

Tie Put Beyond Doubt and Attention Shifts

Seven minutes after Neto’s second, the tie was effectively ended as a magnificent dribble from Delap laid on Estêvão to tap into an unguarded goal. Neto then completed his treble as the provider once again played the crucial ball for the attacker to calmly slot by a helpless Phillips.

By that stage, the work Hull had put in in the first half-hour had long since forgotten. Their priority must now return to achieving a promotion to the Premier League under their manager, who rested several key players with that goal in mind.

"I think we earned at least one goal but if we perform like this we will be in a very good situation in the Championship," the Hull manager commented. "Keep fighting, maybe in the next games this can be a good example of how we should play."

There was plenty of endeavour to the final whistle, and they nearly got a consolation when Lewis Koumas struck a post in stoppage time. But this was the Blues' night, and another positive step forward for their recently-appointed head coach at a stadium he knows very well.

FA Cup History Are Good

The result resulted in an in the end straightforward night's work, and the FA Cup-shaped omens are good from here for Chelsea. They have played Hull on three previous times in this competition in the last decade and on each occasion, they have gone on to reach the final. There is still work in that regard, but this was another huge positive for the Chelsea boss.