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Against a backdrop of sleet, flurries, and a swirling breeze from the waters of the Humber Estuary, combined with a determined Hull City side pushing hard for promotion, this had all the ingredients of a difficult night's work for Chelsea.

"We might have scored more but the opposition are a strong team and it was a difficult fixture; I am very pleased with the display," the manager stated. "This club is very special to me so it was nice to get a positive welcome from the fans of supporters. The application of the lads was excellent."

The Chelsea manager holds this place dear to him, considering some of his family hail from Hull and his enjoyable period in charge of the Tigers. This happy association was extended with a commanding display from his team, who ultimately strolled into the fifth round of the FA Cup.

Clinical Finishing Secures Comprehensive Victory

Three days after letting slip a two-goal lead in the league, there was a sniff of fragility about Chelsea going into this intriguing tie. The capacity Hull support clearly sensed it too, but the London side navigated the challenge perfectly.

Rosenior rang the changes, making seven of them to his starting lineup. The match could and maybe ought to have been decided earlier than it actually was, with two Estêvão Willian and Liam Delap guilty of missing glorious chances to put Chelsea in front in the opening period.

But, luckily for the visitors, Pedro Neto was in a far more clinical mood. He broke the scoring with a spectacular long-range strike, which acted as the catalyst for Chelsea to take control of proceedings. By full time, they had four, with Neto netting a trio of them for a brilliant hat-trick.

The Forward's Redemption and Influence

Hull showed great fight throughout, but the clearer opportunities always fell Chelsea’s way. Estêvão ought to have opened the deadlock when he rounded goalkeeper Dillon Phillips before unbelievably firing over. The striker then had a comparable nightmare moment in front of goal against his old team.

He deflected a Phillips's clearance which bounced back from the bar, 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 responded to avert the danger.

The player had his head in his hands after that moment, but he was immensely instrumental from that point onward, providing three assists. The first was for the first goal as his through ball set up Neto to score from outside the box. Six minutes after the second half began, it was two as the forward's corner went directly in under the keeper's legs.

Tie Sealed and Attention Shifts

Soon after Neto’s second, the tie was effectively ended as a dazzling dribble from Delap teed up his teammate to tap into an unguarded goal. The hat-trick hero then completed his treble as Delap once again played the decisive pass for the striker to calmly convert past a helpless goalkeeper.

At that point, the work Hull had put in in the first thirty minutes had long since forgotten. Their focus must now return to securing a promotion to the top division under their manager, who left out several first-choice players with that aim in mind.

"In my opinion we deserved at least one goal but if we perform like this we will be in a very good position in the league," he said. "Never surrender, maybe in the upcoming matches this can be a positive lesson of how we must play."

There was plenty of endeavour to the final whistle, and they nearly got a consolation when Lewis Koumas hit a the upright in injury time. But this was the Blues' evening, and another positive step forward for their recently-appointed manager at a stadium he knows intimately.

Cup Omens Are Good

That resulted in an in the end routine evening’s work, and the cup competition signs are positive from here for the winners. They have faced Hull on three previous times in this competition in the past ten years and every single time, they have progressed to reach the final. There is still done in that respect, but this was another significant positive for Rosenior.