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Against a backdrop of sleet, flurries, and a biting wind from the banks of the Humber, combined with a resolute home side fighting for a top-flight place, this presented all the makings of a difficult evening’s task for Chelsea.

"We might have scored more but Hull are a strong team and it was a difficult fixture; I’m very pleased with the display," the manager stated. "Hull City is very special to me so it was nice to get a good reception from both sets of fans. The attitude of the lads was superb."

The Rosenior has this city dear to him, considering some of his relatives hail from Hull and his successful spell in charge of the Tigers. His happy association was extended with a magnificent performance from his squad, who ultimately strolled into the fifth round of the FA Cup.

Clinical Finishing Seals Comfortable Victory

Seventy-two hours after surrendering a two-goal advantage in the league, there was a hint of fragility about Chelsea going into this intriguing cup clash. The capacity home crowd clearly felt it too, but Rosenior's men navigated the task with ease.

The manager rang the changes, making multiple of them to his starting lineup. The match might and perhaps ought to have been settled earlier than it actually was, with both Estêvão Willian and Liam Delap at fault for missing glorious opportunities to put their side in front in the first half.

But, fortunately for the visitors, their Portuguese attacker was in a much more ruthless mood. He opened the deadlock with a spectacular distance strike, which acted as the spark for his team to take command of proceedings. By the final whistle, they had four, with Neto scoring a trio of them for a superb three-goal haul.

The Forward's Redemption and Impact

The home side displayed plenty of fight all game, but the clearer opportunities consistently came Chelsea’s way. Estêvão ought to have opened the deadlock when he went past goalkeeper the Hull stopper before inexplicably shooting over. Delap then had a similar horror incident in front of goal against his former club.

He blocked a the goalkeeper's kick which bounced off the bar, and Delap began to run away thinking the ball had crossed the line. It hadn’t, and by the time he realised, Hull's defenders had reacted to clear the threat.

Delap had his head in his hands after that miss, but he was hugely influential from there on out, providing 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 set-piece went directly in under Phillips's legs.

Tie Put Beyond Doubt and Focus Turns

Seven minutes after the second, the tie was effectively ended as a dazzling run from Delap laid on his teammate to slide into an empty net. Neto then finished his hat-trick as the provider again played the crucial ball for the attacker to calmly convert by a stranded goalkeeper.

At that point, the effort Hull had put in in the first thirty minutes had long since erased. Their focus must now return to securing a return to the Premier League under their manager, who left out several key players with that aim in mind.

"I think we deserved at least one goal but if we play like this we will be in a very good position in the Championship," the Hull manager commented. "Never surrender, maybe in the next matches this can be a good lesson of how we should play."

There was plenty of endeavour to the final whistle, and they almost claimed a late goal when Lewis Koumas struck a post in stoppage time. But this was Chelsea’s night, and another encouraging stride for their new head coach at a place he knows very well.

FA Cup Omens Look Good

The result resulted in an in the end routine evening’s performance, and the FA Cup-shaped signs are positive from here for Chelsea. They have faced Hull on three previous occasions in this tournament in the last decade and on each occasion, they have progressed to reach the final. Much remains to be done in that regard, but this was another huge tick for the Chelsea boss.