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Against a backdrop of freezing rain, flurries, and a biting wind off the banks of the Humber Estuary, combined with a determined home side fighting for a top-flight place, this had all the ingredients of a challenging night's task for the visitors.

"We could have added to our tally but Hull are a good team and it was a difficult fixture; I am delighted with the performance," he said. "Hull City is very special to me so it was great to get a good welcome from both sets of supporters. The attitude of the players was excellent."

The Rosenior holds this city close to his heart, given some of his family hail from Hull and his enjoyable spell in charge of the Championship club. His happy association continued with a commanding display from his team, who in the end strolled into the fifth round of the FA Cup.

Deadly Edge Secures Comfortable Win

Seventy-two hours after letting slip a 2-0 lead in the Premier League, there was a sniff of fragility about them going into this intriguing cup clash. The capacity Hull crowd evidently sensed it too, but Rosenior's men handled the task perfectly.

The manager made alterations, making seven of them to his starting lineup. The match could and perhaps should have been decided long before it actually was, with two Estêvão Willian and the forward at fault for spurning glorious opportunities to put their side ahead in the opening period.

But, fortunately for the away team, Pedro Neto was in a far more ruthless mood. He broke the deadlock with a marvellous distance strike, which proved to be the spark for his team to take command of proceedings. By the final whistle, they had 4 goals, with the forward scoring three of them for a brilliant three-goal haul.

Delap's Response and Impact

Hull displayed great spirit throughout, but the clearer opportunities consistently fell to the visitors. Estêvão should have opened the deadlock when he went past goalkeeper the Hull stopper before unbelievably shooting over. Delap then had a similar nightmare incident in front of goal against his former club.

He blocked a the goalkeeper's clearance which bounced back from the crossbar, and Delap started to celebrate thinking the ball had crossed the line. It hadn’t, and by the time he understood, Hull's backline had reacted to avert the danger.

Delap had his head in his hands after that moment, but he was immensely instrumental from that point onward, providing three assists. The opening was for the first goal as his through ball set up his teammate to finish from range. Six minutes after the restart, it was two as Neto's corner went straight in through the keeper's legs.

Tie Put Beyond Doubt and Attention Shifts

Seven minutes after the second goal, the match was put beyond doubt as a magnificent run from the forward laid on his teammate to slide into an empty net. Neto then completed his hat-trick as the provider once again played the decisive pass for the striker to calmly slot by a stranded goalkeeper.

By that stage, the work Hull had done in the opening thirty minutes had long since forgotten. Their focus must now switch back to achieving a return to the top division under Sergej Jakirovic, who rested a number of first-choice individuals with that goal in mind.

"In my opinion we earned at least one goal but if we perform like this we will be in a strong situation in the league," he said. "Keep fighting, maybe in the next games this can be a good example of how we must play."

Hull showed great effort to the end, and they almost got a consolation when a substitute hit a post in injury time. But this was the Blues' evening, and another positive stride for their recently-appointed manager at a place he is familiar with intimately.

FA Cup Omens Are Good

That resulted in an ultimately straightforward evening’s work, and the cup competition signs are positive from here for Chelsea. They have faced Hull on three other times in this tournament in the last decade and every single time, they have gone on to make the showpiece. There is still done in that respect, but this was another huge tick for Rosenior.