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Against a backdrop of freezing rain, snow, and a biting wind off the waters of the Humber, 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 good team and it was a tough fixture; I am very pleased with the performance," he said. "Hull City means a lot to me so it was nice to get a good reception from both sets of fans. The attitude of the lads was excellent."

The Chelsea manager has this place dear to him, given some of his relatives are from Hull and his successful spell in charge of the Championship club. This positive association continued with a magnificent performance from his squad, who in the end strolled into the fifth round of the FA Cup.

Deadly Edge Secures Comprehensive Win

Three days after letting slip a 2-0 lead in the Premier League, there was a sniff of vulnerability about them going into this potentially tricky tie. The capacity home crowd evidently felt it too, but Rosenior's men handled the task perfectly.

The manager rang the changes, enacting multiple of them to his starting lineup. The tie could and perhaps ought to have been settled earlier than it eventually was, with two the Brazilian winger and the forward guilty of spurning glorious opportunities to put their side in front in the opening period.

But, fortunately for the away team, their Portuguese attacker was in a much more clinical mood. He broke the deadlock with a spectacular long-range effort, which proved to be the catalyst for his team to take control of the match. By full time, they had four, with the forward netting a trio of them for a superb three-goal haul.

Delap's Redemption and Impact

Hull showed plenty of fight throughout, but the better chances always came Chelsea’s way. Estêvão ought to have broken the deadlock when he rounded goalkeeper Dillon Phillips before inexplicably shooting over. Delap then had a similar nightmare moment in front of goal against his old team.

He deflected a the goalkeeper's kick which came off the bar, and Delap began 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 threat.

Delap had his head in his hands after that miss, but he was hugely influential from there on out, providing 3 key passes. The opening was for the opening goal as his through ball set up Neto to score from range. Six minutes after the restart, it was two as the forward's set-piece went directly in under the keeper's legs.

Contest Sealed and Focus Turns

Soon after Neto’s second goal, the tie was effectively ended as a dazzling dribble from Delap teed up Estêvão to slide into an unguarded goal. Neto then completed his hat-trick as the provider again played the crucial pass for the striker to coolly slot past a stranded Phillips.

By that stage, the work Hull had done in the first half-hour had been forgotten. Their focus must now switch back to achieving a return to the top division under their manager, who left out a number of key players with that aim in mind.

"I think we deserved at least one goal but if we play like this we will be in a very good position in the Championship," the Hull manager commented. "Keep fighting, maybe in the next games this can be a good lesson of how we should play."

There was great endeavour to the final whistle, and they almost claimed a consolation when Lewis Koumas struck a the upright in injury time. But this was Chelsea’s evening, and another positive stride for their new head coach at a stadium he knows intimately.

FA Cup Omens Look Good

That resulted in an in the end routine evening’s work, and the cup competition omens are good from here for the winners. They have played Hull on three previous times in this competition in the past ten years and every single time, they have gone on to make the final. There is still done in that regard, but this was another significant positive for the Chelsea boss.