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Amid freezing rain, snow, and a swirling wind off the banks of the Humber, alongside a determined Hull City side fighting for a top-flight place, this had all the ingredients of a challenging evening’s work for the visitors.

"We might have scored more but the opposition are a good team and it was a difficult fixture; I am very pleased with the performance," he said. "Hull City is very special to me so it was nice to get a good welcome from the fans of supporters. The application of the lads was superb."

Liam Rosenior holds this city close to his heart, considering some of his relatives hail from Hull and his successful period in charge of the Championship club. His happy connection continued with a magnificent display from his team, who ultimately strolled into the fifth round of the famous old competition.

Deadly Finishing Seals Comprehensive Win

Three days after surrendering a 2-0 lead in the league, there was a sniff of fragility about them going into this intriguing tie. The packed Hull crowd evidently felt it too, but the London side handled the task with ease.

The manager made alterations, making seven of them to his XI. The tie could and perhaps should have been decided long before it eventually was, with two the Brazilian winger and the forward at fault for spurning excellent opportunities to put their side in front in the first half.

However, fortunately for the away team, their Portuguese attacker was in a far more clinical frame of mind. He opened the scoring with a marvellous long-range strike, which proved to be the spark for Chelsea to take command of proceedings. By the final whistle, they had four, with Neto scoring three of them for a brilliant hat-trick.

Delap's Redemption and Influence

Hull showed great fight all game, but the clearer chances always fell Chelsea’s way. The winger should have broken the deadlock when he rounded keeper Dillon Phillips before unbelievably firing over. The striker then had a comparable horror incident in front of goal against his old team.

He deflected a Phillips's kick which came back from the crossbar, and Delap began to celebrate thinking the ball had gone over the line. It hadn’t, and by the time he realised, Hull's backline had reacted to avert the threat.

The player had his head in his hands after that miss, but he was immensely influential from there on out, providing three key passes. The opening was for the opening goal as his pass set up his teammate to score from range. Shortly after the restart, it was 2-0 as the forward's set-piece went directly in through the keeper's legs.

Tie Sealed and Focus Shifts

Seven minutes after the second goal, the match was put beyond doubt as a dazzling run from Delap laid on his teammate to tap into an empty net. The hat-trick hero then finished his treble as Delap once again played the crucial ball for the striker to calmly slot past a helpless goalkeeper.

By that stage, the effort Hull had done in the first half-hour had long since forgotten. Their focus must now return to achieving a promotion to the top division under their manager, who rested a number of key individuals with that aim in mind.

"In my opinion we earned at least one goal but if we play like this we will be in a strong position in the league," the Hull manager commented. "Keep fighting, maybe in the upcoming matches this can be a good example of how we must play."

Hull showed plenty of endeavour to the end, and they nearly got a consolation when a substitute struck a the upright in stoppage time. But this was the Blues' night, and another encouraging stride for their new head coach at a place he knows intimately.

Cup History Are Good

That resulted in an in the end straightforward evening’s work, and the cup competition signs are good from here for the winners. They have played Hull on three other occasions in this competition in the past ten years and every single time, they have gone on to reach the showpiece. Much remains to be done in that respect, but this was another significant tick for the Chelsea boss.