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Amid freezing rain, flurries, and a swirling wind off the waters of the Humber Estuary, alongside a resolute home side fighting for promotion, this had all the makings of a challenging night's work for the visitors.

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

The Rosenior holds this city dear to him, given some of his relatives hail from Hull and his successful period in charge of the Tigers. This happy association continued with a commanding performance from his squad, who in the end strolled into the fifth round of the famous old competition.

Deadly Finishing Seals Comfortable Victory

Three days after surrendering a two-goal lead in the Premier League, there was a sniff of vulnerability about Chelsea going into this intriguing tie. The capacity home support evidently felt it too, but Rosenior's men handled the task with ease.

Rosenior rang the changes, making seven of them to his XI. The tie might and maybe ought to have been settled long before it eventually was, with two the Brazilian winger and Liam Delap at fault for spurning excellent chances to put their side ahead in the first half.

However, fortunately for the away team, their Portuguese attacker was in a much more clinical mood. He broke the deadlock with a marvellous long-range effort, which acted as the catalyst for Chelsea to assume control of the match. 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 better chances always fell Chelsea’s way. Estêvão ought to have opened the deadlock when he went past keeper the Hull stopper before inexplicably firing over. Delap then had a similar horror moment in front of goal against his old team.

He blocked a the goalkeeper's clearance which bounced back from the crossbar, and he started to run away believing the ball had crossed the line. It hadn’t, and by the time he understood, Hull's defenders had reacted to avert the threat.

Delap had his head in his hands after that moment, but he was immensely instrumental from there on out, registering three key passes. The opening was for the opening goal as his pass teed up Neto to score from outside the box. Six minutes after the restart, it was 2-0 as Neto's corner went straight in under Phillips's legs.

Contest Sealed and Focus Shifts

Seven minutes after Neto’s second goal, the match was put beyond doubt as a dazzling dribble from Delap laid on Estêvão to tap into an unguarded goal. The hat-trick hero then completed his hat-trick as Delap once again delivered the decisive ball for the attacker to coolly convert past a helpless goalkeeper.

By that stage, the work Hull had done in the opening thirty minutes had been forgotten. Their focus must now switch back to securing a return to the top division under their manager, who rested a number of first-choice individuals with that goal 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 league," he said. "Never surrender, maybe in the next matches this can be a good example of how we should play."

There was plenty of endeavour to the final whistle, and they almost got a late goal when Lewis Koumas struck a post in stoppage time. But this was the Blues' night, and another encouraging step forward for their recently-appointed head coach at a place he knows intimately.

FA Cup Omens Are Good

The result resulted in an ultimately straightforward evening’s work, and the cup competition omens are good from here for Chelsea. They have faced Hull on three other times in this tournament in the past ten years and every single time, they have gone on to reach the final. Much still work in that regard, but this was another significant tick for Rosenior.