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Against a backdrop of sleet, snow, and a biting breeze off the banks of the Humber, combined with a determined Hull City side pushing hard for promotion, this presented all the makings of a difficult night's work for Chelsea.

"We could have scored more but the opposition are a good team and it was a tough fixture; I’m very pleased with the display," he said. "Hull City means a lot to me so it was nice to get a positive welcome from both sets of fans. The application of the lads was excellent."

Liam Rosenior holds this city close to his heart, considering some of his family are from Hull and his successful period in charge of the Championship club. His happy connection continued with a commanding performance from his team, who in the end sauntered into the fifth round of the FA Cup.

Deadly Edge Secures Comfortable Win

Seventy-two hours after letting slip a 2-0 advantage in the Premier League, there was a sniff of fragility about them going into this intriguing cup clash. The capacity Hull support clearly sensed it too, but Rosenior's men navigated the task with ease.

The manager rang the changes, making multiple of them to his XI. The tie might and maybe ought to have been decided earlier than it actually was, with both Estêvão Willian and the forward guilty of spurning glorious chances to put Chelsea in front in the opening period.

However, fortunately for the visitors, their Portuguese attacker was in a far more ruthless mood. He broke the scoring with a marvellous long-range strike, which proved to be the catalyst for Chelsea to assume command of the match. By full time, they had four, with the forward scoring a trio of them for a superb three-goal haul.

Delap's Redemption and Influence

Hull displayed great fight throughout, but the clearer chances always came Chelsea’s way. The winger should have broken the deadlock when he went past keeper the Hull stopper before unbelievably shooting over. The striker then had a comparable horror moment in front of goal against his old team.

He deflected a the goalkeeper's clearance which bounced back from the bar, and he began to run away believing the ball had crossed the line. It had not, and by the time he realised, Hull's defenders had reacted to avert the danger.

The player had his head in his hands after that moment, but he was hugely influential from there on out, registering three assists. The first was for the opening goal as his through ball set up Neto to score from range. Six minutes after the second half began, it was 2-0 as the forward's corner went directly in under the keeper's legs.

Tie Put Beyond Doubt and Attention Turns

Seven minutes after the second, the match was effectively ended as a magnificent run from Delap teed up his teammate to slide into an empty net. Neto then completed his treble as the provider again played the decisive ball for the attacker to calmly convert by a helpless goalkeeper.

At that point, the effort Hull had done in the first thirty minutes had been erased. Their priority must now switch back to achieving a promotion to the top division under Sergej Jakirovic, who rested a number of first-choice individuals with that goal 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. "Keep fighting, maybe in the upcoming matches this can be a positive lesson of how we must play."

Hull showed plenty of endeavour to the end, and they almost got a late goal when a substitute hit a the upright in injury time. But this was Chelsea’s night, and another encouraging stride for their new manager at a stadium he is familiar with very well.

FA Cup History Look Good

That resulted in an in the end straightforward evening’s performance, and the cup competition omens are positive from here for Chelsea. They have faced Hull on three other times in this tournament in the last decade and on each occasion, they have gone on to make the showpiece. Much still work in that regard, but this was another huge positive for Rosenior.