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Against a backdrop of freezing rain, snow, and a biting wind off the banks of the Humber Estuary, combined with a resolute Hull City side fighting for promotion, this presented all the makings of a challenging evening’s work for the visitors.

"We could have scored more but Hull are a good team and it was a tough fixture; I am very pleased with the performance," the manager stated. "Hull City is very special to me so it was great to get a positive welcome from both sets of supporters. The application of the players was excellent."

Liam Rosenior has this place close to his heart, given some of his family are from Hull and his successful period in charge of the Tigers. His positive connection was extended with a magnificent performance from his team, who ultimately strolled into the fifth round of the famous old competition.

Deadly Edge Secures Comfortable Win

Three days removed from surrendering a two-goal lead in the league, there was a hint of fragility about them going into this potentially tricky cup clash. The packed home crowd clearly felt it too, but Rosenior's men navigated the task perfectly.

Rosenior rang the changes, enacting multiple of them to his starting lineup. The tie might and perhaps ought to have been decided earlier than it eventually was, with both Estêvão Willian and the forward at fault for missing glorious chances to put their side ahead in the opening period.

However, luckily for the visitors, Pedro Neto was in a far more ruthless mood. He opened the scoring with a marvellous distance strike, which acted as the spark for his team to take control of proceedings. By full time, they had 4 goals, with the forward netting a trio of them for a superb three-goal haul.

Delap's Redemption and Impact

The home side displayed great fight throughout, but the better opportunities consistently fell Chelsea’s way. The winger ought to have broken the deadlock when he rounded goalkeeper the Hull stopper before inexplicably firing over. The striker then had a comparable nightmare moment in front of goal against his former club.

He blocked a the goalkeeper's kick which bounced back from the bar, and he started to celebrate thinking the ball had crossed the line. It hadn’t, and by the time he realised, Hull's backline had reacted to clear the danger.

The player had his head in his hands after that miss, but he was hugely influential from that point onward, providing three key passes. The first was for the opening goal as his pass teed up his teammate to score from outside the box. Six minutes after the second half began, it was 2-0 as the forward's corner went directly in under Phillips's legs.

Tie Sealed and Attention Turns

Seven minutes after the second, the match was put beyond doubt as a magnificent dribble from Delap laid on Estêvão to slide into an unguarded goal. The hat-trick hero then completed his treble as the provider once again delivered the crucial ball for the striker to calmly slot by a helpless Phillips.

At that point, the effort Hull had put in in the opening half-hour had been erased. Their focus must now return to securing a promotion to the top division under their manager, who left out several key 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," the Hull manager commented. "Never surrender, maybe in the upcoming games this can be a good lesson of how we should play."

Hull showed plenty of endeavour to the end, and they almost got a late goal when a substitute hit a post in stoppage time. But this was the Blues' evening, and another encouraging step forward for their new head coach at a stadium he is familiar with intimately.

Cup Omens Are Promising

That made for an in the end straightforward evening’s work, and the cup competition signs are positive from here for the winners. They have played Hull on three previous times in this competition in the last decade and every single time, they have gone on to make the final. There is still done in that respect, but this was another huge positive for Rosenior.