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Against a backdrop of freezing rain, snow, and a biting breeze off the waters of the Humber Estuary, combined with a determined Hull City side pushing hard for promotion, this had all the makings of a challenging evening’s work for the visitors.

"We might have scored more but the opposition are a strong team and it was a tough tie; I’m delighted with the performance," he said. "Hull City is very special to me so it was great to get a positive welcome from the fans of fans. The attitude of the lads was superb."

Liam Rosenior holds this city dear to him, given some of his relatives are from Hull and his enjoyable spell in charge of the Tigers. This positive association was extended with a magnificent display from his team, who in the end sauntered into the fifth round of the famous old competition.

Clinical Finishing Secures Comprehensive Win

Three days after surrendering a two-goal advantage in the Premier League, there was a sniff of vulnerability about them going into this intriguing cup clash. The packed home crowd evidently felt it too, but the London side handled the challenge perfectly.

The manager made alterations, making multiple of them to his starting lineup. The match could and perhaps should have been settled long before it eventually was, with two the Brazilian winger and the forward at fault for missing excellent chances to put their side in front in the opening period.

But, fortunately for the away team, Pedro Neto was in a much more clinical mood. He broke the deadlock with a marvellous long-range effort, which proved to be the catalyst for Chelsea to assume control of the match. By the final whistle, they had 4 goals, with the forward scoring three of them for a brilliant hat-trick.

Delap's Response and Impact

The home side displayed plenty of fight throughout, but the better opportunities always fell Chelsea’s way. The winger should have opened the scoring when he went past keeper the Hull stopper before inexplicably firing over. Delap then had a comparable horror moment in front of goal against his old team.

He deflected a the goalkeeper's clearance which bounced back from the crossbar, and Delap started to run away thinking the ball had gone over the line. It hadn’t, and by the time he realised, Hull's backline had responded to clear the danger.

The player had his head in his hands after that moment, but he was hugely influential from there on out, providing three key passes. 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 corner went directly in under Phillips's legs.

Contest Put Beyond Doubt and Focus Shifts

Soon after Neto’s second, the tie was put beyond doubt as a magnificent run from the forward laid on his teammate to tap into an empty net. Neto then completed his hat-trick as the provider again played the decisive ball for the attacker to coolly convert past a helpless goalkeeper.

By that stage, the effort Hull had put in in the first thirty minutes had long since forgotten. Their priority must now switch back to securing a promotion to the Premier League under Sergej Jakirovic, who rested a number of first-choice individuals with that goal in mind.

"In my opinion we earned at least one goal but if we play like this we will be in a strong position in the league," he said. "Never surrender, maybe in the next matches this can be a good lesson of how we must play."

There was plenty of effort to the end, and they nearly claimed a consolation when Lewis Koumas struck a post in injury time. But this was Chelsea’s night, and another positive stride for their recently-appointed manager at a place he is familiar with intimately.

Cup Omens Look Promising

That resulted in an in the end straightforward night's performance, and the cup competition signs are good from here for Chelsea. They have played Hull on three other times in this tournament in the past ten years and on each occasion, they have gone on to make the showpiece. There is remains to be done in that regard, but this was another significant tick for Rosenior.