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Against a backdrop of sleet, flurries, and a swirling wind from the waters of the Humber, alongside a determined home side pushing hard for promotion, this had all the makings of a difficult night's work for Chelsea.

"We might have added to our tally but the opposition are a strong team and it was a tough tie; I’m very pleased with the performance," the manager stated. "Hull City means a lot to me so it was nice to get a good welcome from the fans of supporters. The application of the lads was excellent."

The Chelsea manager has this city dear to him, considering some of his family hail from Hull and his successful period in management of the Tigers. This happy association continued with a magnificent display from his team, who in the end sauntered into the fifth round of the famous old competition.

Deadly Edge Secures Comfortable Win

Seventy-two hours removed from letting slip a two-goal advantage in the Premier League, there was a sniff of fragility about Chelsea going into this potentially tricky cup clash. The capacity home support clearly sensed it too, but Rosenior's men handled the challenge perfectly.

Rosenior rang the changes, making multiple of them to his starting lineup. The tie might and maybe should have been settled earlier than it actually was, with both the Brazilian winger and Liam Delap guilty of missing excellent opportunities to put their side in front in the first half.

However, luckily for the away team, Pedro Neto was in a much more clinical mood. He broke the scoring with a spectacular long-range strike, which proved to be the catalyst for Chelsea to take control of the match. By full time, they had four, with Neto scoring three of them for a superb three-goal haul.

Delap's Response and Influence

The home side showed plenty of spirit all game, but the clearer chances consistently came Chelsea’s way. Estêvão should have broken the deadlock when he went past keeper Dillon Phillips before unbelievably firing over. The striker then had a comparable nightmare incident in front of goal against his former club.

He deflected a the goalkeeper's kick which bounced back from the crossbar, and Delap began to run away 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 hugely influential from that point onward, providing 3 key passes. The opening was for the opening 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 straight in under Phillips's legs.

Tie Put Beyond Doubt and Attention Shifts

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 Delap once again played the decisive ball for the attacker to calmly convert past a helpless Phillips.

At that point, the effort Hull had put in in the first half-hour had long since erased. Their focus must now return to securing a return to the top division under Sergej Jakirovic, who left out a number of first-choice players with that goal in mind.

"In my opinion we earned at least one goal but if we play like this we will be in a very good situation in the Championship," he said. "Keep fighting, maybe in the upcoming games this can be a positive lesson of how we must play."

Hull showed great effort to the end, and they almost got a late goal when a substitute struck a the upright in injury time. But this was the Blues' evening, and another positive step forward for their recently-appointed manager at a stadium he knows intimately.

FA Cup History Are Promising

The result made for an ultimately straightforward night's performance, and the FA Cup-shaped omens are good from here for the winners. They have played Hull on three previous occasions in this competition in the last decade and every single time, they have gone on to reach the showpiece. There is still work in that regard, but this was another huge tick for Rosenior.