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Amid freezing rain, flurries, and a biting breeze off the waters of the Humber Estuary, combined with a resolute Hull City side pushing hard for promotion, this presented all the ingredients of a difficult evening’s task for the visitors.

"We might have added to our tally but Hull are a good team and it was a tough tie; I’m delighted with the display," the manager stated. "This club means a lot to me so it was nice to get a positive reception from the fans of fans. The attitude of the players was excellent."

Liam Rosenior holds this city dear to him, considering some of his family hail from Hull and his successful period in management of the Tigers. His happy connection continued with a commanding display from his squad, who ultimately sauntered into the fifth round of the FA Cup.

Deadly Finishing Secures Comfortable Victory

Three days removed from surrendering a two-goal lead in the league, there was a hint of vulnerability about them going into this potentially tricky cup clash. The capacity home support clearly felt it too, but the London side navigated the task with ease.

The manager made alterations, enacting multiple of them to his XI. The match could and maybe should have been settled long before it eventually was, with two Estêvão Willian and Liam Delap at fault for spurning excellent opportunities to put Chelsea in front in the first half.

But, luckily for the visitors, Pedro Neto was in a much more ruthless frame of mind. He broke the deadlock with a marvellous long-range effort, which acted as the spark for his team to take command of the match. By the final whistle, they had 4 goals, with the forward scoring a trio of them for a brilliant three-goal haul.

Delap's Response and Impact

Hull showed plenty of spirit throughout, but the better opportunities consistently fell to the visitors. Estêvão ought to have broken the deadlock when he rounded goalkeeper Dillon Phillips before inexplicably firing over. The striker then had a similar horror incident in front of goal against his old team.

He deflected a the goalkeeper's clearance which bounced off the crossbar, and Delap began to run away thinking the ball had gone over the line. It hadn’t, and by the time he understood, Hull's backline had responded to avert the danger.

Delap had his head in his hands after that moment, but he was hugely influential from that point onward, registering three key passes. The first was for the first goal as his pass set up Neto to finish from outside the box. Shortly after the restart, it was 2-0 as Neto's corner went straight in under Phillips's legs.

Contest Sealed and Attention Turns

Seven minutes after Neto’s second goal, the tie was put beyond doubt as a dazzling dribble from Delap laid on Estêvão to tap into an empty net. The hat-trick hero then finished his treble as Delap again played the decisive pass for the striker to coolly convert past a helpless Phillips.

By that stage, the effort Hull had done in the first half-hour had been forgotten. Their priority must now switch back to achieving a promotion to the Premier League under their manager, who rested several first-choice individuals with that goal in mind.

"I think we deserved at least one goal but if we play like this we will be in a strong position in the Championship," the Hull manager commented. "Keep fighting, maybe in the upcoming matches this can be a positive example of how we must play."

There was great endeavour to the end, and they nearly claimed a late goal when a substitute hit a the upright in injury time. But this was the Blues' evening, and another encouraging step forward for their recently-appointed manager at a place he is familiar with intimately.

FA Cup History Look Promising

The result resulted in an in the end straightforward evening’s work, and the FA Cup-shaped omens are positive from here for the winners. They have played Hull on three previous occasions in this competition in the past ten years and every single time, they have gone on to make the showpiece. Much remains to be work in that regard, but this was another huge positive for Rosenior.