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Against a backdrop of sleet, snow, and a biting wind from the banks of the Humber Estuary, alongside a resolute home side pushing hard for promotion, this had all the makings of a difficult evening’s task for the visitors.

"We might have added to our tally but Hull are a good team and it was a difficult tie; I am delighted with the display," the manager stated. "This club is very special to me so it was great to get a positive welcome from the fans of fans. The application of the lads was excellent."

Liam Chelsea manager has this city dear to him, given part of his family are from Hull and his successful period in charge of the Tigers. His positive association continued with a commanding performance from his squad, who in the end sauntered into the fifth round of the FA Cup.

Deadly Finishing Secures Comfortable Win

Three days after surrendering a 2-0 advantage in the league, there was a hint of fragility about Chelsea going into this potentially tricky cup clash. The capacity home support clearly sensed it too, but the London side navigated the task perfectly.

Rosenior rang the changes, enacting multiple of them to his XI. The match could and perhaps should have been settled earlier than it eventually was, with both Estêvão Willian and Liam Delap at fault for missing excellent opportunities to put their side in front in the opening period.

However, fortunately for the visitors, their Portuguese attacker was in a much more clinical frame of mind. He broke the scoring with a spectacular distance strike, which acted as the spark for Chelsea to take control of the match. By the final whistle, they had four, with the forward netting three of them for a superb three-goal haul.

Delap's Response and Impact

The home side displayed plenty of spirit throughout, but the clearer opportunities always came Chelsea’s way. The winger should have opened the scoring when he went past goalkeeper Dillon Phillips before inexplicably shooting over. The striker then had a comparable horror moment in front of goal against his former club.

He blocked a Phillips's kick which bounced back from the bar, and Delap started to run away thinking the ball had crossed the line. It hadn’t, and by the time he understood, Hull's defenders had responded to avert the danger.

Delap had his head in his hands after that moment, but he was immensely influential from there on out, providing 3 key passes. The first was for the first goal as his through ball teed up Neto to score from outside the box. Six minutes after the restart, it was two as the forward's set-piece went straight in under Phillips's legs.

Tie Put Beyond Doubt and Attention Shifts

Seven minutes after the second, the match was effectively ended as a dazzling dribble from Delap teed up Estêvão to tap into an unguarded goal. The hat-trick hero then finished his hat-trick as the provider once again played the crucial pass for the attacker to coolly convert past a helpless Phillips.

By that stage, the work Hull had done in the first half-hour had long since erased. Their priority must now return to securing a promotion to the top division under Sergej Jakirovic, who rested several key individuals with that aim in mind.

"In my opinion we deserved at least one goal but if we play like this we will be in a strong situation in the Championship," the Hull manager commented. "Keep fighting, maybe in the next 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 a substitute hit a post in stoppage time. But this was the Blues' evening, and another positive stride for their new head coach at a stadium he is familiar with intimately.

FA Cup History Are Good

The result made for an in the end routine evening’s performance, and the FA Cup-shaped signs are positive from here for Chelsea. They have played Hull on three previous occasions in this competition in the past ten years and every single time, they have gone on to reach the final. Much still work in that regard, but this was another huge positive for Rosenior.