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Against a backdrop of freezing rain, flurries, and a swirling breeze off the banks of the Humber Estuary, combined with a resolute home side fighting for a top-flight place, this presented all the ingredients of a difficult evening’s task for Chelsea.

"We could have scored more but the opposition are a good team and it was a tough tie; I am very pleased with the display," the manager stated. "This club is very special to me so it was nice to get a positive reception from both sets of supporters. The attitude of the players was excellent."

Liam Chelsea manager holds this place close to his heart, given some of his relatives hail from Hull and his successful period in management of the Championship club. This positive connection continued with a magnificent performance from his team, who ultimately strolled into the fifth round of the famous old competition.

Deadly Finishing Seals Comprehensive Win

Seventy-two hours after letting slip a 2-0 lead in the Premier League, there was a hint of vulnerability about them going into this potentially tricky tie. The capacity home support clearly felt it too, but the London side handled the challenge perfectly.

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 guilty of missing excellent chances to put their side ahead in the opening period.

However, fortunately for the visitors, their Portuguese attacker was in a much more clinical mood. He opened the deadlock with a marvellous distance strike, which proved to be the spark for Chelsea to take control of proceedings. By full time, they had four, with Neto scoring three of them for a brilliant three-goal haul.

Delap's Redemption and Influence

The home side showed plenty of fight all game, but the better opportunities consistently came to the visitors. The winger should have opened the deadlock when he went past goalkeeper the Hull stopper before inexplicably firing over. The striker then had a comparable nightmare incident in front of goal against his former club.

He blocked a the goalkeeper's clearance which came back from the bar, and he started to run away thinking the ball had gone over the line. It had not, 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, registering 3 assists. The opening was for the opening goal as his pass teed up Neto to finish from range. Six minutes after the second half began, it was 2-0 as Neto's corner went straight in under Phillips's legs.

Contest Put Beyond Doubt and Attention Shifts

Soon after Neto’s second, the tie was effectively ended as a magnificent dribble from Delap teed up his teammate to tap into an unguarded goal. The hat-trick hero then finished his treble as the provider once again delivered the crucial ball for the attacker to coolly slot past a helpless goalkeeper.

At that point, the work Hull had done in the first half-hour had been erased. Their priority must now return to achieving a return to the Premier League under Sergej Jakirovic, who left out a number of first-choice players 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," he said. "Keep fighting, maybe in the upcoming matches this can be a good lesson of how we should play."

Hull showed plenty of endeavour to the final whistle, and they almost got a consolation when Lewis Koumas hit a the upright in stoppage time. But this was Chelsea’s night, and another positive stride for their new head coach at a stadium he is familiar with very well.

FA Cup History Look Good

That made for an in the end straightforward evening’s work, and the FA Cup-shaped signs are positive from here for Chelsea. They have played Hull on three other times in this competition in the past ten years and on each occasion, they have gone on to make the showpiece. There is still done in that respect, but this was another huge tick for the Chelsea boss.