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Against a backdrop of sleet, flurries, and a biting breeze off the banks of the Humber Estuary, alongside a determined Hull City side fighting for promotion, this had all the ingredients of a challenging evening’s work for the visitors.

"We might have scored more but Hull are a strong team and it was a tough fixture; I’m very pleased with the performance," he said. "Hull City means a lot to me so it was great to get a positive welcome from both sets of supporters. The attitude of the lads was superb."

Liam Chelsea manager holds this city dear to him, considering part of his relatives are from Hull and his enjoyable period in charge of the Tigers. This happy association continued with a commanding performance from his squad, who in the end strolled into the fifth round of the famous old competition.

Clinical Edge Seals Comprehensive Victory

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 tie. The capacity home crowd evidently sensed it too, but Rosenior's men navigated the task perfectly.

Rosenior rang the changes, enacting multiple of them to his XI. The tie might and perhaps should have been settled earlier than it actually was, with both Estêvão Willian and the forward at fault for spurning excellent chances to put their side in front in the opening period.

But, luckily for the away team, Pedro Neto was in a much more clinical frame of mind. He broke the scoring with a marvellous distance effort, which proved to be the catalyst for his team to assume control of proceedings. By the final whistle, they had 4 goals, with the forward scoring three of them for a superb three-goal haul.

Delap's Redemption and Influence

Hull showed plenty of fight throughout, but the better opportunities always fell to the visitors. The winger ought to have broken the scoring when he rounded goalkeeper the Hull stopper before inexplicably shooting over. The striker then had a comparable nightmare moment in front of goal against his former club.

He blocked a Phillips's kick which came off the crossbar, and Delap began to celebrate thinking the ball had gone over the line. It had not, and by the time he understood, Hull's defenders had reacted to avert the threat.

The player had his head in his hands after that miss, but he was hugely instrumental from there on out, providing 3 key passes. The first was for the first goal as his through ball teed up Neto to finish from range. Six minutes after the second half began, it was 2-0 as Neto's corner went straight in under Phillips's legs.

Contest Put Beyond Doubt and Attention Turns

Soon after Neto’s second, the match was effectively ended as a magnificent run from the forward teed up his teammate to tap into an unguarded goal. Neto then finished his hat-trick as Delap again played the crucial pass for the attacker to coolly slot past a stranded Phillips.

At that point, the work Hull had put in in the first thirty minutes had been forgotten. Their focus 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.

"In my opinion we earned at least one goal but if we perform like this we will be in a strong position in the league," the Hull manager commented. "Keep fighting, maybe in the upcoming games this can be a positive example of how we should play."

There was great endeavour to the end, and they almost claimed a late goal when a substitute hit a the upright in injury time. But this was Chelsea’s night, and another positive step forward for their recently-appointed head coach at a stadium he is familiar with intimately.

Cup History Look Promising

That made for an in the end straightforward evening’s performance, and the FA Cup-shaped signs are positive from here for Chelsea. They have faced Hull on three previous times in this competition in the last decade and on each occasion, they have progressed to make the showpiece. Much still work in that respect, but this was another significant tick for Rosenior.