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Against a backdrop of freezing rain, snow, and a swirling wind off the banks of the Humber, alongside a determined Hull City side fighting for promotion, this presented all the ingredients of a difficult night's work for Chelsea.

"We might have added to our tally but Hull are a strong team and it was a difficult fixture; I am delighted with the display," he said. "This club means a lot to me so it was nice to get a positive welcome from the fans of fans. The attitude of the players was excellent."

Liam Rosenior holds this place close to his heart, considering part of his relatives hail from Hull and his successful spell in management of the Championship club. This positive connection was extended with a commanding display from his team, who in the end sauntered into the fifth round of the famous old competition.

Deadly Finishing Secures Comprehensive Victory

Three days removed from letting slip a 2-0 advantage in the Premier League, there was a sniff of fragility about Chelsea going into this intriguing tie. The capacity home crowd evidently felt it too, but Rosenior's men handled the challenge with ease.

Rosenior made alterations, making multiple of them to his XI. The tie might and perhaps should have been settled long before it actually was, with two Estêvão Willian and the forward guilty of missing excellent chances to put their side ahead in the first half.

But, luckily for the away team, their Portuguese attacker was in a far more clinical mood. He opened the scoring with a marvellous distance effort, which proved to be the catalyst for his team to assume command of proceedings. By full time, they had 4 goals, with Neto netting three of them for a superb three-goal haul.

Delap's Redemption and Influence

The home side displayed plenty of spirit all game, but the clearer chances consistently came to the visitors. Estêvão ought to have opened the deadlock when he rounded keeper Dillon Phillips before unbelievably shooting over. Delap then had a comparable horror incident in front of goal against his former club.

He deflected a Phillips's clearance which came back from the crossbar, and Delap started to celebrate believing the ball had crossed the line. It hadn’t, and by the time he understood, Hull's backline had reacted 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 assists. The opening was for the first goal as his through ball set up his teammate to finish from outside the box. Shortly after the restart, it was two as Neto's corner went directly in through the keeper's legs.

Tie Sealed and Focus Turns

Seven minutes after Neto’s second goal, the tie was effectively ended as a magnificent run from the forward laid on his teammate to slide into an unguarded goal. Neto then completed his hat-trick as Delap again played the crucial pass for the striker to calmly slot past a helpless Phillips.

At that point, the work Hull had put in in the opening thirty minutes had long since forgotten. Their priority must now return to securing a return to the top division under Sergej Jakirovic, who left out a number of key players with that aim in mind.

"I think we earned at least one goal but if we perform like this we will be in a strong position in the league," he said. "Never surrender, maybe in the upcoming matches this can be a good example of how we should play."

There was great endeavour to the final whistle, and they nearly got a late goal when Lewis Koumas struck a the upright in injury time. But this was the Blues' evening, and another encouraging stride for their recently-appointed head coach at a stadium he knows very well.

FA Cup Omens Are Good

That resulted in an ultimately straightforward evening’s work, and the FA Cup-shaped omens are good from here for Chelsea. They have faced Hull on three other times in this competition in the past ten years and on each occasion, they have gone on to make the showpiece. Much remains to be work in that respect, but this was another huge tick for the Chelsea boss.