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Amid sleet, snow, and a swirling wind off the banks of the Humber Estuary, combined with a determined home side pushing hard for promotion, this presented all the makings of a difficult evening’s task for the visitors.

"We might have added to our tally but the opposition are a strong team and it was a difficult tie; I am delighted with the performance," the manager stated. "Hull City is very special to me so it was nice to get a positive welcome from both sets of fans. The attitude of the players was excellent."

The Chelsea manager has this place close to his heart, given part of his family are from Hull and his successful spell in charge of the Championship club. This positive connection continued with a commanding performance from his squad, who in the end strolled into the fifth round of the FA Cup.

Deadly Edge Secures Comprehensive Win

Seventy-two hours after letting slip a 2-0 lead in the league, there was a sniff of fragility about Chelsea going into this intriguing cup clash. The packed Hull support evidently felt it too, but Rosenior's men navigated the task with ease.

Rosenior rang the changes, making multiple of them to his starting lineup. The match could and perhaps ought to have been settled long before it actually was, with two Estêvão Willian and Liam Delap guilty of missing excellent opportunities to put Chelsea in front in the first half.

But, fortunately for the away team, Pedro Neto was in a far more clinical mood. He broke the deadlock with a spectacular long-range effort, which acted as the spark for Chelsea to take command of the match. By the final whistle, they had 4 goals, with Neto scoring three of them for a superb hat-trick.

The Forward's Redemption and Impact

Hull showed plenty of spirit all game, but the better chances consistently came Chelsea’s way. The winger should have broken the scoring when he went past goalkeeper the Hull stopper before unbelievably shooting over. Delap then had a comparable horror incident in front of goal against his former club.

He blocked a Phillips's kick which came off the crossbar, and he began to celebrate thinking the ball had crossed the line. It had not, and by the time he realised, Hull's backline had reacted to clear the threat.

The player had his head in his hands after that moment, but he was immensely influential from that point onward, registering 3 assists. The first was for the opening goal as his through ball teed up Neto to score from range. Shortly after the second half began, it was two as Neto's set-piece went directly in through Phillips's legs.

Tie Put Beyond Doubt and Attention Shifts

Seven minutes after the second, the match was put beyond doubt as a magnificent dribble from the forward laid on Estêvão to tap into an unguarded goal. The hat-trick hero then completed his hat-trick as Delap once again played the decisive pass for the striker to coolly convert by a helpless Phillips.

At that point, the work Hull had done in the first half-hour had been erased. Their focus must now return to achieving a promotion to the top division under Sergej Jakirovic, who rested a number of first-choice players with that aim in mind.

"I think we deserved at least one goal but if we perform like this we will be in a very good situation in the Championship," he said. "Keep fighting, maybe in the upcoming matches this can be a good lesson of how we must play."

There was great endeavour to the end, and they almost claimed a late goal when Lewis Koumas struck a the upright in injury time. But this was Chelsea’s evening, and another encouraging stride for their recently-appointed manager at a place he knows very well.

Cup History Look Promising

That made for an ultimately straightforward night's work, and the FA Cup-shaped omens are positive from here for Chelsea. They have faced Hull on three previous times in this competition in the past ten years and on each occasion, they have gone on to reach the showpiece. There is remains to be done in that regard, but this was another significant positive for Rosenior.