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Amid sleet, flurries, and a biting wind off the banks of the Humber, alongside a resolute Hull City side fighting for a top-flight place, this had all the makings of a difficult night's work for Chelsea.

"We could have added to our tally but the opposition are a good team and it was a difficult fixture; I’m delighted with the performance," he said. "Hull City means a lot to me so it was great to get a positive reception from both sets of supporters. The application of the players was excellent."

The Chelsea manager holds this place dear to him, given part of his relatives are from Hull and his successful period in charge of the Championship club. His happy connection was extended with a commanding display from his team, who ultimately strolled into the fifth round of the FA Cup.

Clinical Finishing Secures Comfortable Victory

Three days removed from surrendering a two-goal advantage in the Premier League, there was a sniff of vulnerability about Chelsea going into this intriguing cup clash. The packed home support evidently sensed it too, but the London side handled the task perfectly.

Rosenior made alterations, making multiple of them to his starting lineup. The match could and perhaps ought to have been settled long before it eventually was, with two the Brazilian winger and Liam Delap guilty of spurning glorious opportunities to put their side in front in the opening period.

But, fortunately for the away team, their Portuguese attacker was in a far more clinical mood. He opened the scoring with a spectacular distance effort, which acted as the spark for Chelsea to assume control of the match. By the final whistle, they had 4 goals, with Neto netting three of them for a brilliant hat-trick.

Delap's Redemption and Impact

The home side displayed plenty of spirit all game, but the better chances always came to the visitors. The winger ought to have opened the deadlock when he rounded keeper the Hull stopper before inexplicably shooting over. Delap then had a comparable nightmare moment in front of goal against his former club.

He blocked a the goalkeeper's kick which came off the crossbar, and Delap started to run away thinking the ball had gone over the line. It hadn’t, and by the time he understood, 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 that point onward, providing three assists. The opening was for the opening goal as his through ball set up his teammate to finish from outside the box. Shortly after the restart, it was 2-0 as Neto's corner went directly in under Phillips's legs.

Contest Sealed and Focus Shifts

Seven minutes after the second goal, the match was effectively ended as a magnificent dribble from Delap teed up his teammate to slide into an unguarded goal. The hat-trick hero then completed his hat-trick as the provider again played the decisive pass for the striker to coolly convert by a stranded Phillips.

At that point, the effort Hull had put in in the first half-hour had long since erased. Their priority must now switch back to securing a promotion to the top division under Sergej Jakirovic, who left out several key players with that goal in mind.

"I think we earned at least one goal but if we play like this we will be in a strong situation in the Championship," he said. "Keep fighting, maybe in the next matches this can be a good lesson of how we must play."

Hull showed great effort 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 recently-appointed manager at a stadium he is familiar with intimately.

Cup History Are Promising

That made for an in the end straightforward night's performance, and the FA Cup-shaped omens are good from here for the winners. They have played Hull on three other times in this competition in the last decade and every single time, they have gone on to reach the final. There is still work in that respect, but this was another significant positive for the Chelsea boss.