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Amid sleet, snow, and a biting breeze from the waters of the Humber Estuary, alongside a resolute home side fighting for promotion, this presented all the ingredients of a difficult evening’s task for the visitors.

"We might have scored more but Hull are a strong team and it was a tough tie; I’m very pleased with the performance," he said. "Hull City is very special to me so it was great to get a positive welcome from the fans of fans. The application of the players was superb."

The Chelsea manager holds this city dear to him, considering part of his family hail from Hull and his enjoyable period in management of the Tigers. This happy connection was extended with a magnificent performance from his squad, who in the end sauntered into the fifth round of the FA Cup.

Clinical Finishing Secures Comfortable Victory

Three days removed from letting slip a 2-0 advantage in the league, there was a hint of fragility about Chelsea going into this potentially tricky cup clash. The packed home support evidently felt it too, but the London side navigated the challenge perfectly.

Rosenior rang the changes, making multiple of them to his starting lineup. The match might and perhaps should have been decided earlier than it eventually was, with two Estêvão Willian and Liam Delap at fault for missing excellent chances to put their side in front in the first half.

However, luckily for the away team, their Portuguese attacker was in a far more clinical frame of mind. He opened the scoring with a spectacular distance strike, which acted as the catalyst for his team to take control of the match. By full time, they had four, with Neto scoring a trio of them for a superb hat-trick.

Delap's Redemption and Impact

The home side displayed plenty of spirit throughout, but the better chances consistently fell to the visitors. Estêvão ought to have opened the deadlock when he rounded goalkeeper the Hull stopper before inexplicably firing over. Delap then had a similar horror incident in front of goal against his old team.

He deflected a Phillips's kick which bounced off the crossbar, and he started to celebrate believing the ball had gone over the line. It had not, and by the time he understood, Hull's backline had reacted to clear the danger.

Delap had his head in his hands after that miss, but he was immensely influential from that point onward, registering 3 key passes. The opening was for the first goal as his through ball teed up Neto to finish from range. Six minutes after the restart, it was two as Neto's corner went directly in under Phillips's legs.

Contest Sealed and Focus Turns

Seven minutes after Neto’s second goal, the match was put beyond doubt as a dazzling run from the forward teed up Estêvão to slide into an unguarded goal. The hat-trick hero then completed his treble as the provider again played the decisive pass for the striker to calmly slot past a helpless Phillips.

At that point, the effort Hull had done in the first half-hour had long since erased. Their priority must now switch back to achieving a return to the top division under their manager, who rested several first-choice individuals with that goal in mind.

"I think we earned at least one goal but if we perform like this we will be in a strong situation in the league," the Hull manager commented. "Never surrender, maybe in the upcoming matches this can be a good lesson of how we must play."

Hull showed plenty of effort to the end, and they nearly claimed a consolation when a substitute hit a post in stoppage time. But this was Chelsea’s night, and another positive step forward for their new head coach at a stadium he is familiar with very well.

Cup Omens Look Good

The result resulted in an ultimately routine night's work, and the FA Cup-shaped signs are good from here for Chelsea. They have faced Hull on three previous times in this tournament in the last decade and on each occasion, they have gone on to make the showpiece. Much remains to be work in that regard, but this was another huge positive for Rosenior.