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Against a backdrop of freezing rain, snow, and a biting wind from the banks of the Humber Estuary, alongside a resolute home side pushing hard for a top-flight place, this had all the makings of a challenging evening’s work for the visitors.

"We could have scored more but the opposition are a strong team and it was a difficult tie; I’m very pleased with the display," he said. "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 lads was excellent."

The Rosenior holds this place close to his heart, given part of his relatives are from Hull and his successful period in management of the Tigers. This positive association was extended with a commanding display from his team, who in the end strolled into the fifth round of the famous old competition.

Clinical Edge Secures Comprehensive Victory

Seventy-two hours after surrendering a two-goal advantage in the league, there was a sniff of fragility about Chelsea going into this intriguing tie. The capacity home crowd clearly felt it too, but Rosenior's men handled the challenge perfectly.

Rosenior made alterations, making multiple of them to his starting lineup. The tie might and perhaps ought to have been settled earlier than it actually was, with both Estêvão Willian and the forward guilty of spurning glorious opportunities to put their side in front in the opening period.

However, luckily for the visitors, Pedro Neto was in a far more clinical mood. He broke the deadlock with a spectacular distance strike, which proved to be the spark for his team to take control of the match. By full time, they had four, with Neto scoring three of them for a brilliant three-goal haul.

Delap's Redemption and Influence

Hull showed great fight all game, but the better chances consistently fell to the visitors. The winger should have broken the scoring when he rounded keeper Dillon Phillips before inexplicably firing over. Delap then had a similar nightmare moment in front of goal against his old team.

He deflected a Phillips's clearance which bounced off the bar, and Delap started to celebrate believing the ball had gone over the line. It had not, 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 miss, but he was immensely influential from that point onward, registering three assists. The opening was for the opening goal as his pass teed up his teammate to score from outside the box. Shortly after the second half began, it was two as the forward's corner went straight in under Phillips's legs.

Tie Put Beyond Doubt and Attention Turns

Soon after Neto’s second, the match was effectively ended as a dazzling run from the forward laid on his teammate to slide into an unguarded goal. Neto then completed his hat-trick as Delap once again delivered the crucial ball for the attacker to coolly slot by a helpless goalkeeper.

At that point, the work Hull had done in the first thirty minutes had been erased. Their priority must now return to achieving a promotion to the top division under their manager, who rested a number of key players with that goal in mind.

"I think we earned at least one goal but if we perform like this we will be in a very good position in the league," the Hull manager commented. "Never surrender, maybe in the upcoming games this can be a positive example of how we must play."

Hull showed plenty of endeavour to the final whistle, and they almost got a late goal when Lewis Koumas hit a post in injury time. But this was Chelsea’s night, and another encouraging stride for their recently-appointed manager at a place he knows intimately.

Cup History Look Promising

That resulted in an ultimately routine evening’s performance, and the FA Cup-shaped signs are positive from here for the winners. They have played Hull on three other times in this tournament in the last decade and on each occasion, they have progressed to reach the final. There is still done in that respect, but this was another huge tick for the Chelsea boss.