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Against a backdrop of sleet, snow, and a swirling wind from the banks of the Humber Estuary, combined with a resolute Hull City side pushing hard for a top-flight place, this presented all the ingredients of a difficult evening’s work for the visitors.

"We could have scored more but Hull are a good team and it was a difficult tie; I’m delighted with the performance," the manager stated. "This club means a lot to me so it was great to get a good welcome from the fans of supporters. The attitude of the players was excellent."

Liam Rosenior has this city close to his heart, considering some of his family hail from Hull and his enjoyable period in charge of the Championship club. This positive association continued with a magnificent display from his team, who in the end strolled into the fifth round of the famous old competition.

Deadly Finishing Seals Comfortable Win

Three days after letting slip a 2-0 lead in the league, there was a sniff of vulnerability about Chelsea going into this potentially tricky tie. The packed Hull support evidently sensed it too, but Rosenior's men handled the task perfectly.

The manager rang the changes, enacting multiple of them to his starting lineup. The tie could and perhaps should have been decided long before it eventually was, with two Estêvão Willian and Liam Delap guilty of missing glorious opportunities to put Chelsea ahead in the first half.

However, fortunately for the away team, their Portuguese attacker 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 proceedings. By the final whistle, they had four, with Neto netting a trio of them for a superb three-goal haul.

Delap's Response and Impact

The home side displayed great fight all game, but the clearer opportunities always fell to the visitors. Estêvão should have broken the deadlock when he went past keeper the Hull stopper before unbelievably shooting over. Delap then had a comparable nightmare incident in front of goal against his former club.

He blocked a Phillips's kick which bounced off the bar, and he started to celebrate believing the ball had crossed the line. It hadn’t, and by the time he realised, Hull's defenders had reacted to avert the threat.

The player had his head in his hands after that moment, but he was immensely influential from there on out, registering three assists. The opening was for the opening goal as his pass teed up Neto to finish from range. Shortly after the restart, it was 2-0 as Neto's set-piece went directly in under Phillips's legs.

Tie Sealed and Focus Shifts

Soon after the second goal, the match was effectively ended as a dazzling dribble from Delap teed up his teammate to slide into an unguarded goal. Neto then finished his hat-trick as the provider once again played the crucial pass for the striker to calmly convert past a helpless Phillips.

At that point, the work Hull had put in in the opening half-hour had been erased. Their focus must now return to achieving a promotion to the top division under their manager, who left out a number of first-choice players with that aim in mind.

"In my opinion we earned at least one goal but if we play like this we will be in a strong situation in the Championship," the Hull manager commented. "Never surrender, maybe in the upcoming matches this can be a positive example of how we should play."

Hull showed plenty of effort to the final whistle, and they nearly claimed a consolation when Lewis Koumas struck a the upright in injury time. But this was the Blues' evening, and another positive step forward for their new head coach at a stadium he knows very well.

Cup Omens Look Promising

That made for an ultimately routine evening’s work, and the FA Cup-shaped omens are good from here for the winners. They have played Hull on three previous occasions in this tournament in the past ten years and on each occasion, they have gone on to reach the showpiece. There is remains to be done in that respect, but this was another huge tick for Rosenior.