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Against a backdrop of freezing rain, snow, and a biting wind from the banks of the Humber Estuary, combined with a resolute Hull City side fighting for a top-flight place, this presented all the ingredients of a difficult night's work for the visitors.

"We might have scored more but Hull are a good team and it was a difficult tie; I am delighted with the performance," the manager stated. "This club is very special to me so it was nice to get a good welcome from both sets of fans. The application of the players was superb."

The Rosenior holds this city dear to him, given part of his relatives hail from Hull and his enjoyable period in management of the Championship club. This positive connection was extended with a magnificent performance from his squad, who in the end strolled into the fifth round of the famous old competition.

Clinical Edge Seals Comfortable Win

Seventy-two hours removed from letting slip a two-goal lead in the Premier League, there was a hint of fragility about them going into this potentially tricky tie. The capacity Hull crowd clearly felt it too, but Rosenior's men navigated the task with ease.

Rosenior made alterations, making multiple of them to his starting lineup. The tie might and perhaps should have been decided earlier than it eventually was, with two the Brazilian winger and the forward at fault for spurning glorious chances to put Chelsea in front in the opening period.

However, luckily for the away team, Pedro Neto was in a far more clinical frame of mind. He opened the scoring with a marvellous distance strike, which proved to be the catalyst for his team to assume control of proceedings. By the final whistle, they had four, with the forward scoring three of them for a brilliant hat-trick.

Delap's Response and Impact

Hull displayed great fight throughout, but the clearer opportunities always fell Chelsea’s way. Estêvão should have opened the scoring when he went past keeper Dillon Phillips before inexplicably shooting over. The striker then had a similar nightmare incident in front of goal against his former club.

He blocked a the goalkeeper's clearance which came off the crossbar, and Delap began to celebrate thinking the ball had gone over the line. It hadn’t, and by the time he understood, Hull's backline had responded to clear the danger.

Delap 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 through ball set up Neto to finish from range. Shortly after the second half began, it was 2-0 as the forward's set-piece went directly in through Phillips's legs.

Tie Put Beyond Doubt and Focus Turns

Seven minutes after the second goal, the match was effectively ended as a dazzling run from the forward laid on Estêvão to slide into an empty net. The hat-trick hero then finished his treble as Delap again delivered the decisive ball for the attacker to coolly convert past a stranded Phillips.

At that point, the work Hull had put in in the opening thirty minutes had long since forgotten. Their focus must now return to achieving a promotion to the Premier League under their manager, who rested a number of first-choice players with that aim in mind.

"In my opinion we deserved at least one goal but if we perform like this we will be in a very good position in the Championship," the Hull manager commented. "Never surrender, maybe in the next matches this can be a good example of how we should play."

Hull showed plenty of effort to the end, and they almost claimed a consolation when Lewis Koumas struck a the upright in stoppage time. But this was Chelsea’s evening, and another positive stride for their new head coach at a stadium he is familiar with very well.

FA Cup History Look Promising

The result resulted in an in the end routine night's work, and the cup competition omens are positive from here for the winners. They have played Hull on three other occasions in this competition in the last decade and every single time, they have gone on to reach the final. There is remains to be work in that regard, but this was another significant tick for the Chelsea boss.