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Against a backdrop of sleet, flurries, and a biting wind off the waters of the Humber, combined with a resolute Hull City side fighting for promotion, this had all the makings of a difficult evening’s task for the visitors.

"We might have scored more but Hull are a strong team and it was a difficult fixture; I’m delighted with the display," he said. "This club is very special to me so it was nice to get a good welcome from the fans of fans. The application of the players was superb."

The Rosenior holds this place dear to him, given part of his family hail from Hull and his enjoyable spell in management of the Championship club. His positive association was extended with a commanding display from his squad, who ultimately strolled into the fifth round of the FA Cup.

Deadly Finishing Seals Comfortable Win

Three days removed from surrendering a two-goal advantage in the Premier League, there was a sniff of fragility about them going into this intriguing tie. The packed home crowd evidently sensed it too, but Rosenior's men handled the task perfectly.

The manager made alterations, making seven of them to his XI. The tie could and perhaps ought to have been settled earlier than it eventually was, with two Estêvão Willian and the forward guilty of missing glorious opportunities to put their side in front in the opening period.

However, fortunately for the visitors, their Portuguese attacker was in a far more ruthless frame of mind. He broke the scoring with a marvellous distance effort, which proved to be the spark for his team to take control of the match. By the final whistle, they had 4 goals, with the forward netting a trio of them for a brilliant hat-trick.

Delap's Redemption and Impact

Hull displayed plenty of fight throughout, but the clearer chances consistently fell Chelsea’s way. Estêvão ought to have opened the deadlock when he went past goalkeeper the Hull stopper before unbelievably shooting over. The striker then had a similar horror moment in front of goal against his old team.

He deflected a Phillips's clearance which came back from the crossbar, 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 backline had reacted to clear the danger.

The player had his head in his hands after that miss, but he was hugely instrumental from that point onward, providing three key passes. The opening was for the opening goal as his through ball teed up his teammate to score from outside the box. Six minutes after the restart, it was 2-0 as Neto's corner went straight in under the keeper's legs.

Contest Sealed and Attention Shifts

Soon after the second, the tie was effectively ended as a magnificent run from Delap teed up his teammate to tap into an empty net. The hat-trick hero then completed his hat-trick as the provider again delivered the crucial ball for the striker to calmly convert by a stranded goalkeeper.

At that point, the work Hull had done in the first thirty minutes had long since erased. Their focus must now return to securing a promotion to the top division under their manager, who rested a number of first-choice individuals with that aim in mind.

"I think we deserved 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 example of how we should play."

Hull showed great effort to the end, and they nearly got a consolation when Lewis Koumas hit a post in injury time. But this was Chelsea’s evening, and another positive step forward for their recently-appointed head coach at a stadium he is familiar with intimately.

Cup History Look Good

That made for an in the end routine night's work, and the FA Cup-shaped omens are good from here for Chelsea. They have faced Hull on three other times in this competition in the last decade and on each occasion, they have progressed to reach the showpiece. There is still done in that regard, but this was another significant positive for Rosenior.