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Amid freezing rain, flurries, and a biting breeze from the banks of the Humber, alongside a resolute Hull City side fighting for promotion, this had all the makings of a challenging night's task for the visitors.

"We could have added to our tally but Hull are a good team and it was a tough tie; I am very pleased with the performance," he said. "This club means a lot to me so it was nice to get a good reception from both sets of supporters. The application of the lads was excellent."

Liam Rosenior holds this place dear to him, considering some of his family are from Hull and his enjoyable spell in management of the Tigers. His happy association continued with a commanding performance from his team, who ultimately strolled into the fifth round of the famous old competition.

Deadly Edge Seals Comfortable Win

Seventy-two hours removed from letting slip a 2-0 advantage in the league, there was a hint of vulnerability about Chelsea going into this intriguing cup clash. The packed home crowd clearly felt it too, but the London side navigated the task with ease.

Rosenior made alterations, enacting multiple of them to his XI. The tie could and perhaps ought to have been decided long before it actually was, with both the Brazilian winger and the forward at fault for spurning excellent chances to put their side in front in the first half.

But, luckily for the away team, Pedro Neto was in a far more ruthless frame of mind. He broke the scoring with a marvellous distance strike, which acted as the catalyst for his team to assume control of proceedings. By full time, they had 4 goals, with Neto scoring three of them for a superb hat-trick.

The Forward's Response and Influence

The home side showed plenty of fight all game, but the better chances always fell to the visitors. The winger should have opened the deadlock when he went past goalkeeper 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 Phillips's clearance which came off the bar, and he started to run away thinking the ball had gone over the line. It had not, and by the time he understood, Hull's defenders had reacted to avert the threat.

The player had his head in his hands after that moment, but he was hugely instrumental from that point onward, registering 3 key passes. The first was for the first goal as his pass teed up his teammate to finish from range. Six minutes after the restart, it was two as Neto's set-piece went straight in under the keeper's legs.

Contest Sealed and Attention Shifts

Soon after Neto’s second, the tie was put beyond doubt as a magnificent dribble from the forward laid on Estêvão to slide into an empty net. Neto then completed his hat-trick as the provider again delivered the crucial pass for the attacker to calmly slot by a stranded goalkeeper.

At that point, the effort Hull had done in the first thirty minutes had been forgotten. Their priority must now return to achieving a return to the Premier League under Sergej Jakirovic, who left out a number of key players with that aim in mind.

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

There was great effort to the end, and they almost claimed a late goal when a substitute hit a the upright in stoppage time. But this was the Blues' night, and another encouraging step forward for their recently-appointed head coach at a place he is familiar with intimately.

FA Cup History Are Promising

That resulted in an in the end straightforward night's work, and the FA Cup-shaped omens are good from here for Chelsea. They have faced Hull on three previous times in this tournament in the last decade and every single time, they have gone on to reach the showpiece. There is still work in that respect, but this was another huge positive for Rosenior.