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Against a backdrop of freezing rain, snow, and a biting breeze off the waters of the Humber, alongside a resolute home side fighting for promotion, this had all the makings of a challenging evening’s task for Chelsea.

"We might have added to our tally but the opposition are a strong team and it was a tough fixture; I am very pleased with the performance," the manager stated. "This club is very special to me so it was nice to get a positive reception from both sets of supporters. The application of the lads was excellent."

The Rosenior has this city dear to him, given some of his relatives are from Hull and his successful spell in charge of the Championship club. This positive connection was extended with a commanding performance from his squad, who ultimately strolled into the fifth round of the FA Cup.

Clinical Edge Seals Comfortable Victory

Three days removed from letting slip a 2-0 lead in the Premier League, there was a hint of vulnerability about Chelsea going into this potentially tricky cup clash. The capacity home crowd evidently felt it too, but Rosenior's men navigated the task perfectly.

Rosenior made alterations, enacting seven of them to his XI. The match might and perhaps should have been settled long before it eventually was, with two Estêvão Willian and Liam Delap guilty of spurning glorious opportunities to put Chelsea ahead in the first half.

However, fortunately for the visitors, Pedro Neto was in a far more ruthless mood. He broke the deadlock with a marvellous distance strike, which proved to be the catalyst for Chelsea to assume command of the match. By full time, they had four, with Neto scoring a trio of them for a superb hat-trick.

The Forward's Redemption and Impact

The home side displayed great fight all game, but the better opportunities consistently came Chelsea’s way. Estêvão ought to have broken the scoring when he went past goalkeeper the Hull stopper before inexplicably firing over. Delap then had a similar horror moment in front of goal against his former club.

He deflected a the goalkeeper's kick which came back from the bar, and Delap began to run away thinking the ball had gone over the line. It had not, and by the time he understood, Hull's backline had responded to clear the danger.

The player had his head in his hands after that moment, but he was hugely influential from that point onward, registering 3 key passes. The first was for the first goal as his through ball teed up his teammate to finish from range. Shortly after the restart, it was 2-0 as Neto's corner went directly in under the keeper's legs.

Tie Sealed and Attention Shifts

Seven minutes after Neto’s second, the tie was put beyond doubt as a magnificent dribble from the forward laid on his teammate to tap into an unguarded goal. The hat-trick hero then finished his hat-trick as Delap once again delivered the crucial ball for the striker to calmly convert by a helpless goalkeeper.

By that stage, the work Hull had done in the first thirty minutes had long since forgotten. Their priority must now return to achieving a promotion to the top division under their manager, who left out several first-choice individuals with that aim in mind.

"I think we deserved at least one goal but if we play like this we will be in a strong situation in the Championship," he said. "Keep fighting, maybe in the next games this can be a good example of how we should play."

Hull showed great endeavour to the final whistle, and they almost got a consolation when a substitute struck a post in stoppage time. But this was the Blues' evening, and another positive stride for their new head coach at a stadium he is familiar with intimately.

FA Cup History Look Good

That made for an in the end routine night's work, and the FA Cup-shaped signs are positive from here for Chelsea. They have played Hull on three previous occasions in this competition in the past ten years and on each occasion, they have gone on to make the final. There is remains to be work in that regard, but this was another huge tick for Rosenior.