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Against a backdrop of freezing rain, snow, and a swirling wind from the waters of the Humber Estuary, alongside a resolute home side pushing hard for a top-flight place, this had all the makings of a difficult evening’s work for Chelsea.

"We could have added to our tally but Hull are a strong team and it was a difficult fixture; I’m very pleased with the display," the manager stated. "Hull City is very special to me so it was great to get a good reception from both sets of fans. The application of the lads was excellent."

The Rosenior holds this city close to his heart, given part of his relatives hail from Hull and his enjoyable spell in management of the Tigers. His positive connection continued with a magnificent performance from his squad, who ultimately strolled into the fifth round of the FA Cup.

Clinical Edge Seals Comfortable Win

Seventy-two hours removed from letting slip a two-goal advantage in the league, there was a hint of fragility about them going into this potentially tricky cup clash. The packed Hull support clearly felt it too, but the London side handled the task with ease.

Rosenior made alterations, making seven of them to his starting lineup. The tie could and maybe should have been decided earlier than it eventually was, with both Estêvão Willian and the forward at fault for spurning excellent chances to put their side in front in the opening period.

But, fortunately for the visitors, their Portuguese attacker was in a far more ruthless frame of mind. He opened the scoring with a marvellous distance effort, which proved to be the spark for his team to assume control of proceedings. By full time, they had four, with Neto netting a trio of them for a brilliant three-goal haul.

The Forward's Response and Impact

The home side displayed plenty of spirit all game, but the clearer opportunities consistently fell to the visitors. The winger should have opened the deadlock when he rounded goalkeeper the Hull stopper before inexplicably shooting over. Delap then had a comparable horror moment in front of goal against his old team.

He deflected a Phillips's clearance which bounced back from the crossbar, and Delap began to celebrate thinking the ball had gone over the line. It hadn’t, and by the time he understood, Hull's defenders had reacted to clear the danger.

The player had his head in his hands after that moment, but he was immensely instrumental from that point onward, registering 3 key passes. The first was for the first goal as his through ball set up his teammate to score from outside the box. Shortly after the second half began, it was two as Neto's set-piece went straight in through the keeper's legs.

Tie Put Beyond Doubt and Attention Shifts

Soon after the second goal, the match was put beyond doubt as a magnificent dribble from the forward laid on Estêvão to tap into an empty net. Neto then finished his hat-trick as the provider once again delivered the decisive ball for the attacker to calmly slot by a helpless goalkeeper.

At that point, the effort Hull had put in in the first half-hour had been forgotten. Their focus must now switch back to achieving a promotion to the top division under Sergej Jakirovic, who rested several first-choice 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 situation in the Championship," the Hull manager commented. "Never surrender, maybe in the next matches this can be a good lesson of how we should play."

Hull showed plenty of effort to the end, and they nearly got a consolation when Lewis Koumas struck a the upright in stoppage time. But this was the Blues' evening, and another positive step forward for their new head coach at a place he knows very well.

Cup Omens Look Promising

That made for an ultimately straightforward evening’s performance, and the cup competition omens are positive from here for Chelsea. They have played Hull on three previous times in this competition in the last decade and every single time, they have progressed to make the showpiece. Much remains to be work in that regard, but this was another huge tick for Rosenior.