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Amid sleet, snow, and a biting wind off the banks of the Humber, combined with a resolute home side pushing hard for a top-flight place, this presented all the makings of a difficult evening’s task for Chelsea.

"We could have scored more but Hull are a strong team and it was a difficult tie; I am very pleased with the performance," he said. "This club means a lot to me so it was great to get a good welcome from the fans of supporters. The attitude of the players was excellent."

The Chelsea manager has this city dear to him, considering some of his family hail from Hull and his successful period in charge of the Championship club. This positive association was extended with a magnificent display from his squad, who in the end sauntered into the fifth round of the famous old competition.

Clinical Finishing Secures Comprehensive Win

Three days removed from surrendering a two-goal advantage in the Premier League, there was a hint of fragility about them going into this intriguing cup clash. The capacity Hull crowd evidently sensed it too, but Rosenior's men handled the challenge perfectly.

Rosenior made alterations, enacting seven of them to his XI. The tie might and perhaps should have been decided earlier than it eventually was, with both Estêvão Willian and the forward at fault for missing excellent chances to put their side ahead in the first half.

But, luckily for the away team, their Portuguese attacker was in a much more clinical frame of mind. He broke the deadlock with a spectacular distance effort, which proved to be the spark for his team to take control of the match. By the final whistle, they had four, with the forward netting a trio of them for a brilliant hat-trick.

The Forward's Redemption and Impact

The home side displayed plenty of spirit throughout, but the clearer chances always fell to the visitors. Estêvão should have broken the scoring when he went past keeper Dillon Phillips before unbelievably shooting over. The striker then had a comparable horror incident in front of goal against his former club.

He blocked a Phillips's kick which bounced off the crossbar, and Delap began to celebrate believing the ball had crossed the line. It hadn’t, and by the time he understood, Hull's backline had reacted to avert the threat.

Delap had his head in his hands after that moment, but he was immensely instrumental from that point onward, registering 3 assists. The first was for the opening goal as his pass teed up Neto to finish from range. Six minutes after the restart, it was 2-0 as the forward's corner went directly in under the keeper's legs.

Tie Put Beyond Doubt and Attention Turns

Seven minutes after the second goal, the tie was effectively ended as a magnificent dribble from the forward laid on Estêvão to slide into an unguarded goal. The hat-trick hero then finished his treble as Delap again played the crucial pass for the attacker to calmly slot by a stranded Phillips.

At that point, the work Hull had done in the first thirty minutes had long since erased. Their focus must now switch back to achieving a return to the top division under Sergej Jakirovic, who left out a number of first-choice individuals with that goal 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," he said. "Never surrender, maybe in the next matches this can be a positive example of how we must play."

There was great effort to the final whistle, and they nearly claimed a late goal when Lewis Koumas struck 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 Promising

That resulted in an in the end routine night's performance, and the cup competition omens are positive from here for the winners. They have played Hull on three previous times in this tournament in the last decade and every single time, they have gone on to reach the showpiece. Much remains to be work in that respect, but this was another huge positive for Rosenior.