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Against a backdrop of freezing rain, flurries, and a swirling wind from the banks of the Humber Estuary, alongside a determined Hull City side pushing hard for a top-flight place, this presented all the makings of a difficult evening’s task for Chelsea.

"We could have scored more but the opposition are a good team and it was a tough tie; I am very pleased with the performance," he said. "Hull City means a lot to me so it was great to get a good reception from both sets of fans. The application of the players was excellent."

The Rosenior has this city dear to him, given some of his family hail from Hull and his enjoyable spell in management of the Tigers. His positive connection was extended with a magnificent performance from his team, who ultimately sauntered into the fifth round of the FA Cup.

Deadly Finishing Seals Comfortable Win

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

The manager made alterations, making multiple of them to his starting lineup. The tie could and perhaps should have been decided earlier than it actually was, with two the Brazilian winger and Liam Delap guilty of missing excellent chances to put Chelsea in front in the opening period.

But, luckily for the away team, Pedro Neto was in a much more ruthless frame of mind. He broke the deadlock with a spectacular distance effort, which proved to be the spark for Chelsea to take command of proceedings. By the final whistle, they had 4 goals, with the forward scoring three of them for a brilliant hat-trick.

Delap's Response and Impact

Hull displayed plenty of spirit all game, but the clearer chances consistently came Chelsea’s way. The winger ought to have broken the deadlock when he went past goalkeeper Dillon Phillips before inexplicably firing over. Delap then had a comparable nightmare incident in front of goal against his former club.

He deflected a the goalkeeper's kick which bounced off the crossbar, and he began to run away believing the ball had gone over the line. It hadn’t, and by the time he realised, Hull's backline had responded to clear the danger.

Delap had his head in his hands after that miss, but he was hugely instrumental 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 the forward's corner went straight in through Phillips's legs.

Contest Put Beyond Doubt and Attention Turns

Seven minutes after the second, the tie was effectively ended as a dazzling run from Delap teed up his teammate to slide into an empty net. Neto then completed his hat-trick as the provider once again played the crucial pass for the striker to calmly slot by a helpless goalkeeper.

By that stage, the work Hull had done in the opening half-hour had been forgotten. Their focus must now switch back to securing a return to the Premier League under their manager, who rested a number of first-choice players with that aim in mind.

"In my opinion we deserved at least one goal but if we perform like this we will be in a very good situation in the Championship," the Hull manager commented. "Keep fighting, maybe in the next games this can be a good lesson of how we should play."

Hull showed plenty of effort to the end, and they almost got a late goal when Lewis Koumas struck a post in injury time. But this was the Blues' night, and another encouraging stride for their new manager at a stadium he knows intimately.

Cup Omens Are Promising

The result resulted in an in the end routine evening’s work, and the FA Cup-shaped signs are positive from here for the winners. They have faced Hull on three previous times in this competition in the last decade and on each occasion, they have gone on to make the final. Much still done in that regard, but this was another significant positive for Rosenior.