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Amid freezing rain, snow, and a swirling breeze from the waters of the Humber, combined with a resolute Hull City side fighting for promotion, this had all the ingredients of a challenging night's work for Chelsea.

"We could have added to our tally but Hull are a good 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 the fans of fans. The application of the players was excellent."

Liam Rosenior holds this city close to his heart, given some of his family hail from Hull and his enjoyable spell in charge of the Championship club. This happy connection continued with a magnificent display from his squad, who in the end sauntered into the fifth round of the famous old competition.

Deadly Edge Secures Comprehensive Victory

Seventy-two hours after letting slip a two-goal advantage in the league, there was a hint of fragility about them going into this intriguing tie. The packed home crowd clearly felt it too, but Rosenior's men navigated the task perfectly.

The manager made alterations, enacting seven of them to his starting lineup. The tie might and maybe should have been decided long before it actually was, with two Estêvão Willian and the forward at fault for missing glorious opportunities to put Chelsea in front in the first half.

However, fortunately for the visitors, Pedro Neto was in a far more ruthless frame of mind. He broke the deadlock with a spectacular distance effort, which acted as the spark for his team to assume control of proceedings. By full time, they had four, with the forward scoring a trio of them for a brilliant three-goal haul.

The Forward's Redemption and Impact

Hull displayed plenty of fight throughout, but the better chances consistently came to the visitors. The winger ought to have opened the deadlock when he rounded keeper the Hull stopper before inexplicably firing over. Delap then had a comparable horror moment in front of goal against his former club.

He deflected a Phillips's clearance which came off the crossbar, and he started to celebrate thinking the ball had gone over the line. It had not, and by the time he realised, Hull's backline had responded to avert the threat.

The player had his head in his hands after that moment, but he was immensely influential from there on out, providing 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 Neto's corner went straight in under the keeper's legs.

Contest Sealed and Attention Turns

Soon after the second goal, the match was put beyond doubt as a dazzling run from the forward teed up his teammate to tap into an empty net. Neto then completed his treble as Delap once again delivered the decisive ball for the striker to calmly convert by a stranded Phillips.

At that point, the effort Hull had put in in the opening half-hour had long since erased. Their focus must now return to achieving a promotion to the top division under their manager, who rested several key individuals with that goal in mind.

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

There was plenty of effort to the end, and they almost claimed a late goal when Lewis Koumas hit a post in stoppage time. But this was Chelsea’s evening, and another positive stride for their new head coach at a place he knows very well.

Cup Omens Are Promising

That made for an ultimately routine night's performance, and the FA Cup-shaped signs are positive from here for Chelsea. They have faced Hull on three previous occasions in this competition in the last decade and every single time, they have progressed to reach the final. There is remains to be done in that respect, but this was another huge positive for Rosenior.