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Against a backdrop of sleet, snow, and a biting wind from the banks of the Humber Estuary, combined with a resolute Hull City side pushing hard for a top-flight place, this had all the makings of a difficult night's task for the visitors.

"We might have scored more but Hull are a strong team and it was a tough fixture; I am delighted with the display," the manager stated. "Hull City means a lot to me so it was great to get a positive reception from the fans of fans. The application of the players was excellent."

Liam Chelsea manager holds this city dear to him, given some of his relatives hail from Hull and his enjoyable spell in charge of the Championship club. His happy connection was extended with a magnificent display from his team, who in the end strolled into the fifth round of the famous old competition.

Clinical Edge Secures Comfortable Victory

Three days removed from surrendering a 2-0 lead in the league, there was a hint of fragility about Chelsea going into this potentially tricky tie. The packed Hull support evidently sensed it too, but Rosenior's men navigated the task with ease.

The manager made alterations, making seven of them to his starting lineup. The tie might and maybe ought to have been settled long before it eventually was, with two Estêvão Willian and Liam Delap at fault for spurning glorious chances to put their side in front in the first half.

But, fortunately for the away team, their Portuguese attacker was in a far more clinical frame of mind. He opened the scoring with a spectacular long-range effort, which proved to be the catalyst for Chelsea to assume control of proceedings. By the final whistle, they had four, with the forward netting three of them for a superb three-goal haul.

The Forward's Response and Influence

Hull displayed plenty of fight all game, but the clearer chances always came Chelsea’s way. The winger should have broken the deadlock when he rounded goalkeeper Dillon Phillips before unbelievably shooting over. Delap then had a comparable horror incident in front of goal against his former club.

He deflected a the goalkeeper's clearance which bounced off the crossbar, and he started to run away believing the ball had crossed the line. It hadn’t, and by the time he realised, Hull's defenders had reacted to avert the danger.

Delap had his head in his hands after that moment, but he was immensely instrumental from that point onward, providing 3 assists. The first was for the opening goal as his pass set up Neto to finish from range. Six minutes after the restart, it was 2-0 as the forward's corner went directly in under Phillips's legs.

Tie Sealed and Focus Shifts

Seven minutes after the second goal, the match was effectively ended as a dazzling dribble from the forward teed up Estêvão to slide into an empty net. Neto then completed his hat-trick as the provider once again played the crucial pass for the attacker to calmly convert past a helpless Phillips.

At that point, the effort Hull had done in the first thirty minutes had long since erased. Their priority must now switch back to achieving a promotion to the Premier League under their manager, who left out several key individuals with that goal in mind.

"I think we deserved at least one goal but if we play like this we will be in a very good situation in the Championship," he said. "Never surrender, maybe in the next games this can be a positive lesson of how we should play."

There was plenty of endeavour to the end, and they almost claimed a consolation when a substitute hit a the upright in stoppage time. But this was the Blues' night, and another positive stride for their recently-appointed manager at a place he is familiar with very well.

Cup History Look Promising

The result resulted in an ultimately routine night's performance, and the FA Cup-shaped omens are good from here for Chelsea. They have played Hull on three other times in this competition in the past ten years and on each occasion, they have progressed to make the final. There is remains to be work in that regard, but this was another huge positive for the Chelsea boss.