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Against a backdrop of freezing rain, flurries, and a swirling breeze from 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 work for the visitors.

"We could have added to our tally but Hull are a good team and it was a difficult fixture; I’m delighted with the display," he said. "This club is very special to me so it was nice to get a positive welcome from the fans of fans. The attitude of the players was excellent."

The Rosenior has this place close to his heart, given part of his family hail from Hull and his successful spell in charge of the Tigers. His positive association was extended with a commanding performance from his team, who ultimately sauntered into the fifth round of the FA Cup.

Clinical Edge Seals Comprehensive Victory

Seventy-two hours removed from surrendering a 2-0 advantage in the Premier League, there was a hint of fragility about them going into this potentially tricky cup clash. The packed home crowd clearly sensed it too, but the London side handled the task with ease.

The manager rang the changes, making multiple of them to his XI. The tie might and perhaps should have been decided long before it eventually was, with two Estêvão Willian and Liam Delap guilty of spurning glorious opportunities to put Chelsea in front in the opening period.

However, luckily for the visitors, Pedro Neto was in a much more ruthless frame of mind. He opened the deadlock with a spectacular long-range effort, which proved to be the catalyst for Chelsea to assume control of the match. By the final whistle, they had four, with the forward scoring three of them for a brilliant three-goal haul.

The Forward's Redemption and Influence

The home side displayed plenty of spirit throughout, but the better opportunities consistently came to the visitors. Estêvão should have opened the scoring when he rounded keeper the Hull stopper before inexplicably firing over. Delap then had a similar nightmare moment in front of goal against his old team.

He deflected a the goalkeeper's kick which bounced off the crossbar, and Delap started to celebrate believing the ball had gone over the line. It had not, and by the time he understood, Hull's defenders had responded to avert the danger.

The player had his head in his hands after that miss, but he was hugely instrumental from that point onward, registering three key passes. The first was for the first goal as his through ball teed up Neto to score from outside the box. Six minutes after the second half began, it was 2-0 as Neto's set-piece went directly in through the keeper's legs.

Contest Sealed and Focus Turns

Seven minutes after Neto’s second goal, the match was put beyond doubt as a magnificent run from the forward teed up his teammate to tap into an empty net. Neto then finished his hat-trick as Delap once again played the crucial pass for the attacker to coolly convert by a stranded Phillips.

At that point, the work Hull had done in the opening thirty minutes had long since erased. Their priority must now switch back to securing a return to the top division under Sergej Jakirovic, who rested a number of first-choice players with that aim in mind.

"In my opinion we earned at least one goal but if we perform like this we will be in a very good position in the Championship," the Hull manager commented. "Never surrender, maybe in the next matches this can be a positive lesson of how we should play."

There was great effort to the end, and they nearly got a consolation when a substitute struck a the upright in injury time. But this was the Blues' evening, and another encouraging stride for their new manager at a stadium he is familiar with intimately.

FA Cup Omens Look Good

The result made for an in the end routine evening’s work, and the cup competition omens are good from here for Chelsea. They have faced Hull on three other times in this competition in the past ten years and on each occasion, they have progressed to reach the final. There is remains to be done in that regard, but this was another significant positive for Rosenior.