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Against a backdrop of freezing rain, snow, and a swirling breeze from the waters of the Humber, combined with a determined Hull City side pushing hard for promotion, this presented all the makings of a difficult night's work for Chelsea.

"We might have added to our tally but Hull are a good team and it was a tough tie; I’m delighted with the performance," he said. "Hull City means a lot to me so it was great to get a positive welcome from both sets of fans. The attitude of the players was superb."

Liam Chelsea manager holds this city dear to him, considering part of his family are from Hull and his successful spell in charge of the Tigers. This positive connection continued with a magnificent display from his team, who in the end sauntered into the fifth round of the FA Cup.

Clinical Finishing Secures Comprehensive Win

Seventy-two hours removed from letting slip a 2-0 lead in the Premier League, there was a hint of vulnerability about them going into this potentially tricky tie. The packed home support clearly felt it too, but the London side navigated the task with ease.

The manager made alterations, making multiple of them to his starting lineup. The match might and maybe should have been decided long before it actually was, with both Estêvão Willian and Liam Delap guilty of spurning excellent opportunities to put their side ahead in the first half.

But, fortunately for the visitors, their Portuguese attacker was in a much more clinical frame of mind. He opened the deadlock with a spectacular long-range strike, which proved to be the spark for Chelsea to assume command of the match. By full time, they had 4 goals, with Neto scoring three of them for a superb hat-trick.

Delap's Response and Impact

Hull displayed great spirit all game, but the better opportunities always fell to the visitors. The winger should have broken the deadlock when he went past goalkeeper Dillon Phillips before unbelievably firing over. The striker then had a comparable nightmare moment in front of goal against his old team.

He deflected a Phillips's kick which came off the bar, and Delap began to celebrate believing the ball had crossed the line. It hadn’t, and by the time he understood, Hull's backline had responded to clear the threat.

Delap had his head in his hands after that miss, but he was hugely influential from that point onward, providing 3 assists. The opening was for the first goal as his through ball teed up his teammate to finish from range. Six minutes after the restart, it was 2-0 as Neto's set-piece went directly in through the keeper's legs.

Tie Sealed and Focus Shifts

Seven minutes after Neto’s second goal, the tie was put beyond doubt as a dazzling dribble from the forward teed up Estêvão to tap into an unguarded goal. Neto then finished his treble as the provider once again played the crucial ball for the attacker to coolly slot by a helpless Phillips.

At that point, the effort Hull had done in the opening half-hour had been erased. Their priority must now switch back to achieving a return to the top division under Sergej Jakirovic, who rested a number of key individuals 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. "Never surrender, maybe in the next games this can be a good example of how we must play."

There was great effort to the end, and they nearly claimed a consolation when a substitute hit a post in injury time. But this was the Blues' evening, and another encouraging step forward for their new head coach at a place he knows intimately.

FA Cup Omens Are Good

That made for an ultimately routine night's performance, and the cup competition omens are positive from here for the winners. They have faced Hull on three other occasions in this tournament in the past ten years and on each occasion, they have progressed to reach the final. There is remains to be work in that regard, but this was another significant positive for Rosenior.