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Against a backdrop of freezing rain, snow, and a swirling breeze off the banks of the Humber, alongside a resolute Hull City side fighting for promotion, this had all the ingredients of a difficult evening’s work for the visitors.

"We might have added to our tally but the opposition are a good team and it was a difficult tie; I’m very pleased with the performance," he said. "Hull City is very special to me so it was great to get a good welcome from the fans of supporters. The attitude of the players was superb."

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. His positive connection continued with a magnificent display from his squad, who ultimately strolled into the fifth round of the FA Cup.

Deadly Finishing Seals Comprehensive Victory

Three days after surrendering a two-goal advantage in the league, there was a sniff of fragility about them going into this intriguing cup clash. The capacity home support evidently felt it too, but the London side navigated the task with ease.

The manager made alterations, enacting seven of them to his XI. The tie might and perhaps should have been decided long before it eventually was, with both the Brazilian winger and the forward at fault for spurning excellent chances to put their side in front in the opening period.

However, luckily for the visitors, their Portuguese attacker was in a far more ruthless mood. He broke the scoring with a spectacular long-range strike, which proved to be the spark for Chelsea to assume control of the match. By the final whistle, they had four, with Neto scoring three of them for a brilliant three-goal haul.

Delap's Redemption and Impact

The home side displayed plenty of spirit throughout, but the clearer opportunities always fell to the visitors. The winger should have opened the deadlock when he went past goalkeeper Dillon Phillips before inexplicably 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 bounced off the crossbar, and he started to celebrate believing the ball had crossed the line. It hadn’t, and by the time he realised, Hull's defenders had responded to clear the threat.

Delap had his head in his hands after that moment, but he was immensely instrumental from that point onward, providing three assists. The first was for the first goal as his through ball set up Neto to score from outside the box. Shortly after the second half began, it was 2-0 as Neto's set-piece went directly in under Phillips's legs.

Tie Put Beyond Doubt and Attention Turns

Seven minutes after the second, the tie was put beyond doubt as a magnificent run from Delap teed up Estêvão to slide into an empty net. The hat-trick hero then completed his hat-trick as Delap again played the decisive pass for the striker to calmly convert past a stranded Phillips.

By that stage, the effort Hull had done in the first half-hour had long since erased. Their priority must now switch back to securing a promotion to the top division under their manager, who rested several first-choice individuals with that aim in mind.

"In my opinion we earned at least one goal but if we perform like this we will be in a very good situation in the league," the Hull manager commented. "Keep fighting, maybe in the upcoming matches this can be a positive lesson of how we must play."

Hull showed plenty of endeavour to the final whistle, and they almost got a consolation when Lewis Koumas hit a the upright in injury time. But this was the Blues' night, and another encouraging step forward for their recently-appointed manager at a place he knows intimately.

FA Cup History Look Promising

That resulted in an ultimately routine evening’s work, and the FA Cup-shaped omens are positive 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 reach the showpiece. Much still work in that respect, but this was another huge positive for the Chelsea boss.