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Amid sleet, snow, and a swirling breeze from the waters of the Humber Estuary, combined with a resolute Hull City side pushing hard for promotion, this presented all the ingredients of a difficult evening’s work for the visitors.

"We could have scored more but the opposition are a strong team and it was a difficult tie; I am delighted with the performance," he said. "This club means a lot to me so it was great to get a positive welcome from the fans of fans. The attitude of the players was excellent."

Liam Rosenior holds this place close to his heart, given some of his family hail from Hull and his successful spell in charge of the Tigers. This happy connection continued with a magnificent display from his team, who in the end strolled into the fifth round of the famous old competition.

Deadly Edge Seals Comfortable Win

Three days removed from surrendering a two-goal advantage in the Premier League, there was a hint of fragility about Chelsea going into this potentially tricky tie. The packed Hull support clearly sensed it too, but the London side handled the task with ease.

The manager rang the changes, enacting seven of them to his XI. The match might and maybe should have been settled long before it eventually was, with two Estêvão Willian and the forward at fault for spurning glorious opportunities to put Chelsea ahead in the first half.

However, luckily for the visitors, Pedro Neto was in a much more ruthless mood. He broke the scoring with a marvellous long-range effort, which acted as the catalyst for Chelsea to take control of proceedings. By full time, they had four, with the forward netting a trio of them for a superb hat-trick.

Delap's Response and Impact

Hull showed great spirit all game, but the clearer chances always came Chelsea’s way. Estêvão should have opened the deadlock when he rounded goalkeeper the Hull stopper before inexplicably shooting over. Delap then had a comparable horror incident in front of goal against his old team.

He deflected a Phillips's clearance which bounced back from the crossbar, and he started to run away thinking the ball had gone over the line. It had not, and by the time he understood, Hull's defenders had reacted to clear the threat.

Delap had his head in his hands after that miss, but he was immensely instrumental from that point onward, registering three assists. The opening was for the first goal as his through ball teed up Neto to score from outside the box. Shortly after the restart, it was two as Neto's corner went directly in under the keeper's legs.

Tie Put Beyond Doubt and Focus Shifts

Seven minutes after Neto’s second, the match was effectively ended as a magnificent run from Delap laid on Estêvão to tap into an unguarded goal. Neto then finished his hat-trick as Delap once again played the decisive ball for the striker to coolly convert by a helpless goalkeeper.

At that point, the effort Hull had done in the first half-hour had been forgotten. Their priority must now switch back to securing a return to the Premier League under their manager, who rested several first-choice individuals with that goal in mind.

"I think we deserved at least one goal but if we perform like this we will be in a strong situation in the Championship," the Hull manager commented. "Keep fighting, maybe in the next games this can be a positive example of how we must play."

Hull showed great endeavour to the final whistle, and they almost claimed a consolation when Lewis Koumas hit a the upright in injury time. But this was the Blues' evening, and another encouraging stride for their new head coach at a place he knows very well.

Cup Omens Look Good

That resulted in an in the end routine night's work, and the FA Cup-shaped omens are positive from here for the winners. They have faced Hull on three previous occasions in this competition in the past ten years and every single time, they have progressed to make the final. There is remains to be work in that regard, but this was another significant tick for the Chelsea boss.