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Amid freezing rain, snow, and a biting wind off the waters of the Humber, combined with a resolute Hull City side pushing hard for promotion, this had all the ingredients of a difficult evening’s task for the visitors.

"We might have added to our tally but Hull are a strong team and it was a difficult fixture; I am very pleased with the display," the manager stated. "Hull City is very special to me so it was great to get a good reception from the fans of supporters. The application of the lads was superb."

Liam Chelsea manager has this city close to his heart, given part of his relatives are from Hull and his successful spell in management of the Championship club. His happy association continued with a commanding display from his squad, who ultimately sauntered into the fifth round of the FA Cup.

Clinical Finishing Seals Comfortable Victory

Seventy-two hours removed from letting slip a 2-0 advantage in the league, there was a sniff of vulnerability about Chelsea going into this potentially tricky cup clash. The capacity Hull support clearly felt it too, but the London side handled the challenge perfectly.

Rosenior rang the changes, making multiple of them to his XI. The match might and maybe should have been settled long before it actually was, with two the Brazilian winger and the forward guilty of spurning glorious chances to put Chelsea in front in the opening period.

However, luckily for the visitors, their Portuguese attacker was in a much more clinical mood. He broke the scoring with a marvellous long-range strike, which proved to be the spark for Chelsea to take command of proceedings. By full time, they had four, with the forward netting three of them for a brilliant three-goal haul.

The Forward's Response and Influence

The home side showed plenty of spirit throughout, but the clearer opportunities always came Chelsea’s way. Estêvão ought to have opened the scoring when he went past goalkeeper Dillon Phillips before unbelievably firing over. The striker then had a similar horror incident in front of goal against his old team.

He deflected a the goalkeeper's kick which came back from the crossbar, and he began to run away thinking the ball had gone over the line. It hadn’t, and by the time he realised, Hull's defenders had reacted to clear the threat.

Delap had his head in his hands after that miss, but he was immensely influential from there on out, providing 3 assists. The first was for the first goal as his through ball teed up Neto to finish from outside the box. Six minutes after the second half began, it was two as the forward's set-piece went straight in under the keeper's legs.

Tie Put Beyond Doubt and Focus Turns

Seven minutes after the second goal, 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 treble as Delap once again delivered the crucial pass for the attacker to calmly slot by a helpless goalkeeper.

By that stage, the effort Hull had put in in the opening half-hour had long since forgotten. Their focus must now return to securing a return to the top division under their manager, who rested a number of first-choice players with that goal 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 games this can be a positive lesson of how we should play."

Hull showed great endeavour to the final whistle, and they almost got a late goal when a substitute struck a post in injury time. But this was the Blues' evening, and another encouraging step forward for their recently-appointed manager at a place he knows very well.

FA Cup History Are Promising

That made for an in the end straightforward evening’s performance, and the FA Cup-shaped omens are good from here for the winners. They have played Hull on three previous occasions in this tournament in the past ten years and every single time, they have gone on to reach the final. There is still work in that regard, but this was another huge positive for Rosenior.