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Against a backdrop of sleet, flurries, and a swirling wind from the banks of the Humber Estuary, alongside a determined Hull City side pushing hard for promotion, this had all the ingredients of a difficult evening’s task for the visitors.

"We could have added to our tally but Hull are a strong team and it was a tough tie; I’m delighted with the display," he said. "Hull City means a lot to me so it was nice to get a positive reception from the fans of supporters. The attitude of the players was superb."

The Chelsea manager holds this place dear to him, given part of his relatives hail from Hull and his successful period in management of the Tigers. This happy association continued with a magnificent display from his team, who ultimately strolled into the fifth round of the FA Cup.

Clinical Edge Seals Comprehensive Victory

Seventy-two hours after letting slip a two-goal advantage in the league, there was a sniff of fragility about Chelsea going into this intriguing tie. The capacity home crowd clearly sensed it too, but the London side handled the challenge perfectly.

Rosenior made alterations, making multiple of them to his starting lineup. The tie might and maybe should have been decided earlier than it actually was, with both Estêvão Willian and Liam Delap at fault for missing glorious chances to put their side in front in the opening period.

However, luckily for the away team, Pedro Neto was in a far more ruthless mood. He opened the deadlock with a marvellous distance strike, which proved to be the spark for his team to assume control of the match. By the final whistle, they had four, with the forward netting three of them for a brilliant hat-trick.

The Forward's Redemption and Influence

Hull showed great spirit throughout, but the clearer chances always came Chelsea’s way. Estêvão ought to have broken the deadlock when he went past keeper Dillon Phillips before inexplicably shooting over. Delap then had a similar nightmare incident in front of goal against his old team.

He blocked a the goalkeeper's kick which bounced back from the crossbar, and Delap began to run away thinking the ball had crossed the line. It hadn’t, and by the time he understood, Hull's backline had responded to avert the danger.

The player had his head in his hands after that miss, but he was hugely influential from there on out, registering three key passes. The opening was for the opening goal as his pass teed up his teammate to score from outside the box. Shortly after the restart, it was 2-0 as Neto's set-piece went directly in through Phillips's legs.

Tie Sealed and Focus Shifts

Soon after Neto’s second goal, the match was put beyond doubt as a magnificent dribble from the forward teed up Estêvão to slide into an empty net. Neto then finished his hat-trick as Delap once again delivered the crucial ball for the attacker to calmly convert past a stranded goalkeeper.

By that stage, the effort Hull had put in in the first thirty minutes had long since forgotten. Their priority must now return to achieving a return to the top division under their manager, who left out a number of key individuals with that goal in mind.

"In my opinion we earned at least one goal but if we play like this we will be in a very good position in the Championship," he said. "Keep fighting, maybe in the next games this can be a good lesson of how we should play."

Hull showed great effort to the end, and they almost got a consolation when a substitute struck a the upright in stoppage time. But this was the Blues' night, and another positive stride for their new manager at a stadium he knows very well.

FA Cup History Are Promising

That resulted in an in the end routine night's performance, and the cup competition signs are good from here for Chelsea. They have played Hull on three previous times in this tournament in the past ten years and on each occasion, they have gone on to make the showpiece. Much still done in that respect, but this was another huge positive for Rosenior.