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Against a backdrop of sleet, snow, and a swirling wind off the waters of the Humber Estuary, alongside a resolute Hull City side pushing hard for a top-flight place, this presented all the ingredients of a challenging evening’s task for Chelsea.

"We might have added to our tally but Hull are a good team and it was a tough tie; I’m very pleased 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 supporters. The attitude of the players was superb."

Liam Chelsea manager holds this city close to his heart, considering part of his family are from Hull and his enjoyable period in management of the Championship club. This positive association was extended with a magnificent performance from his squad, who in the end strolled into the fifth round of the FA Cup.

Clinical Edge Seals Comprehensive Win

Three days after letting slip a 2-0 lead in the Premier League, there was a hint of vulnerability about Chelsea going into this intriguing tie. The capacity home crowd clearly felt it too, but Rosenior's men navigated the task perfectly.

Rosenior rang the changes, making seven of them to his XI. The tie might and perhaps ought to have been decided long before it actually was, with both the Brazilian winger and the forward at fault for spurning glorious chances to put Chelsea in front in the first half.

But, fortunately for the away team, their Portuguese attacker was in a much more ruthless mood. He broke the deadlock with a spectacular distance effort, which acted as the spark for Chelsea to take control of proceedings. By the final whistle, they had 4 goals, with the forward netting a trio of them for a brilliant three-goal haul.

The Forward's Redemption and Influence

The home side displayed plenty of spirit all game, but the better opportunities always came to the visitors. Estêvão should have opened the scoring when he went past keeper Dillon Phillips before unbelievably firing over. Delap then had a comparable nightmare incident in front of goal against his former club.

He blocked a the goalkeeper's clearance which came back from the bar, and Delap began to run away believing the ball had gone over the line. It hadn’t, and by the time he realised, Hull's backline had responded to avert the danger.

Delap had his head in his hands after that moment, but he was immensely instrumental from there on out, providing three key passes. The opening was for the opening goal as his through ball teed up his teammate to score from range. Shortly after the restart, it was 2-0 as the forward's set-piece went directly in through the keeper's legs.

Tie Sealed and Attention Turns

Soon after the second, the tie was put beyond doubt as a magnificent dribble from Delap laid on Estêvão to slide into an empty net. Neto then finished his hat-trick as the provider once again delivered the decisive pass for the attacker to calmly convert by a helpless Phillips.

By that stage, the effort Hull had done in the first thirty minutes had been forgotten. Their priority must now switch back to achieving a promotion to the Premier League under Sergej Jakirovic, who rested several key individuals with that aim in mind.

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

Hull showed great endeavour to the end, and they almost claimed a late goal when a substitute hit a post in stoppage time. But this was the Blues' night, and another positive stride for their recently-appointed manager at a stadium he knows intimately.

FA Cup History Look Promising

That made for an ultimately straightforward evening’s work, and the cup competition signs are positive from here for Chelsea. They have played Hull on three previous occasions in this competition in the past ten years and on each occasion, they have progressed to reach the final. There is still work in that respect, but this was another significant tick for Rosenior.