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Against a backdrop of freezing rain, flurries, and a biting wind off the waters of the Humber, alongside a determined home side pushing hard for promotion, this had all the makings of a difficult evening’s task for the visitors.

"We might have scored more but the opposition are a strong team and it was a tough fixture; I am delighted with the performance," the manager stated. "Hull City means a lot to me so it was great to get a positive reception from both sets of fans. The application of the players was superb."

Liam Chelsea manager holds this city close to his heart, given some of his family are from Hull and his successful period in charge of the Championship club. His positive association continued with a commanding display from his team, who in the end sauntered into the fifth round of the famous old competition.

Deadly Edge Secures Comfortable Victory

Seventy-two hours removed from surrendering a two-goal advantage in the league, there was a sniff of fragility about them going into this potentially tricky cup clash. The capacity Hull crowd evidently sensed it too, but Rosenior's men handled the challenge with ease.

The manager made alterations, enacting multiple of them to his XI. The match might and maybe should have been decided long before it eventually was, with both the Brazilian winger and Liam Delap at fault for missing excellent opportunities to put their side ahead in the opening period.

But, fortunately for the visitors, their Portuguese attacker was in a far more clinical frame of mind. He broke the scoring with a spectacular distance effort, which acted as the spark for Chelsea to take control of the match. By full time, they had 4 goals, with Neto netting three of them for a superb three-goal haul.

Delap's Response and Influence

The home side showed great fight all game, but the clearer opportunities always fell to the visitors. The winger ought to have broken the scoring when he rounded goalkeeper Dillon Phillips before unbelievably shooting over. The striker then had a similar nightmare incident in front of goal against his former club.

He deflected a the goalkeeper's kick which came off the bar, and Delap started to celebrate thinking the ball had gone over the line. It had not, and by the time he understood, Hull's defenders had reacted to avert the danger.

Delap had his head in his hands after that miss, but he was hugely influential from that point onward, providing three key passes. The opening was for the first goal as his through ball teed up Neto to finish from outside the box. Shortly after the restart, it was 2-0 as the forward's corner went directly in through the keeper's legs.

Contest Put Beyond Doubt and Focus Turns

Seven minutes after the second, the tie was put beyond doubt as a dazzling run from the forward teed up Estêvão to tap into an empty net. Neto then finished his treble as Delap once again played the crucial ball for the striker to calmly slot by a stranded Phillips.

By that stage, the effort Hull had done in the first thirty minutes had been forgotten. Their priority must now return to securing a return to the top division under their manager, who left out several first-choice players with that goal in mind.

"In my opinion we earned at least one goal but if we play like this we will be in a very good position in the Championship," he said. "Keep fighting, maybe in the next games this can be a good lesson of how we must play."

Hull showed great endeavour to the end, and they almost claimed a late goal when a substitute hit a the upright in stoppage time. But this was the Blues' evening, and another encouraging step forward for their recently-appointed manager at a place he knows very well.

Cup History Look Good

That made for an in the end straightforward evening’s work, and the cup competition omens are good from here for the winners. They have played Hull on three other times in this tournament in the past ten years and every single time, they have progressed to reach the showpiece. There is still done in that respect, but this was another huge positive for the Chelsea boss.