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Amid freezing rain, snow, and a swirling breeze from the banks of the Humber, alongside a resolute Hull City side fighting for promotion, this had all the makings of a difficult night's work for Chelsea.

"We could have added to our tally but Hull are a strong team and it was a difficult fixture; I am delighted with the performance," he said. "This club means a lot to me so it was nice to get a positive reception from both sets of supporters. The application of the lads was superb."

The Chelsea manager has this place dear to him, considering part of his relatives are from Hull and his successful period in management of the Championship club. His happy association was extended with a magnificent display from his team, who ultimately strolled into the fifth round of the FA Cup.

Deadly Edge Secures Comfortable Victory

Seventy-two hours after surrendering a 2-0 lead in the league, there was a hint of fragility about Chelsea going into this potentially tricky tie. The packed Hull crowd evidently sensed it too, but Rosenior's men handled the task with ease.

The manager made alterations, making multiple of them to his XI. The tie could and perhaps should have been settled earlier than it eventually was, with both Estêvão Willian and the forward guilty of missing glorious opportunities to put Chelsea in front in the opening period.

However, fortunately for the visitors, Pedro Neto was in a much more ruthless mood. He broke the deadlock with a spectacular long-range effort, which acted as the catalyst for his team to take control of proceedings. By the final whistle, they had 4 goals, with the forward netting three of them for a brilliant three-goal haul.

The Forward's Response and Influence

Hull showed plenty of spirit throughout, but the better chances always fell to the visitors. The winger ought to have opened the deadlock when he went past goalkeeper the Hull stopper before inexplicably firing over. Delap then had a similar nightmare moment in front of goal against his former club.

He blocked a the goalkeeper's kick which bounced off the crossbar, and Delap started to celebrate thinking the ball had crossed the line. It had not, and by the time he understood, Hull's backline had reacted to avert the danger.

Delap had his head in his hands after that miss, but he was immensely instrumental from there on out, providing 3 assists. The first was for the opening goal as his pass set up Neto to finish from range. Six minutes after the restart, it was two as the forward's set-piece went directly in through Phillips's legs.

Tie Put Beyond Doubt and Attention Shifts

Soon after the second, the tie was put beyond doubt as a dazzling dribble from the forward laid on Estêvão to slide into an empty net. Neto then finished his treble as Delap once again played the crucial ball for the striker to coolly convert past a helpless goalkeeper.

At that point, the work Hull had done in the first thirty minutes had long since erased. Their focus must now switch back to securing a return to the top division under their manager, who rested a number of key players with that aim in mind.

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

Hull showed plenty of effort to the final whistle, and they nearly got a late goal when a substitute hit a post in injury time. But this was Chelsea’s evening, and another positive step forward for their recently-appointed head coach at a stadium he is familiar with very well.

Cup History Look Promising

The result resulted in an in the end straightforward night's performance, and the FA Cup-shaped signs are good from here for the winners. They have played Hull on three other occasions in this competition in the past ten years and on each occasion, they have progressed to reach the final. There is remains to be work in that respect, but this was another significant tick for the Chelsea boss.