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Amid sleet, flurries, and a biting wind off the waters of the Humber, alongside a determined Hull City side fighting for a top-flight place, this had all the makings of a difficult evening’s task for the visitors.

"We could have scored more but Hull are a good team and it was a tough tie; I’m delighted with the display," the manager stated. "This club means a lot to me so it was great to get a positive reception from both sets of fans. The attitude of the players was superb."

The Chelsea manager holds this city close to his heart, considering some of his relatives hail from Hull and his enjoyable period in management of the Tigers. This positive association was extended with a commanding display from his squad, who in the end strolled into the fifth round of the famous old competition.

Deadly Finishing Secures Comprehensive Win

Seventy-two hours removed from surrendering a two-goal lead in the Premier League, there was a sniff of fragility about them going into this potentially tricky cup clash. The capacity Hull crowd clearly felt it too, but Rosenior's men navigated the task perfectly.

Rosenior made alterations, making seven of them to his XI. The match could and perhaps ought to have been settled earlier than it eventually was, with both Estêvão Willian and Liam Delap guilty of spurning glorious opportunities to put their side in front in the opening period.

However, fortunately for the away team, Pedro Neto was in a far more clinical mood. He broke the scoring with a spectacular distance effort, which proved to be the catalyst for his team to take command of proceedings. By the final whistle, they had 4 goals, with Neto netting three of them for a brilliant three-goal haul.

The Forward's Redemption and Impact

The home side showed plenty of fight throughout, but the better chances consistently came to the visitors. The winger should have broken the scoring when he rounded goalkeeper the Hull stopper before unbelievably firing over. The striker then had a similar horror incident in front of goal against his former club.

He blocked a Phillips's clearance which came off the bar, and Delap started to celebrate thinking the ball had crossed the line. It had not, and by the time he realised, Hull's backline had reacted to avert the threat.

The player 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 through ball set up Neto to score from outside the box. Shortly after the second half began, it was two as the forward's set-piece went directly in under Phillips's legs.

Tie Sealed and Focus Shifts

Seven minutes after the second, the tie was put beyond doubt as a magnificent run from Delap laid on his teammate to slide into an empty net. Neto then finished his treble as the provider once again played the crucial pass for the attacker to coolly convert past a stranded goalkeeper.

At that point, the effort Hull had done in the opening half-hour had been forgotten. Their priority must now switch back to securing a return to the top division under Sergej Jakirovic, who rested several key individuals with that goal in mind.

"In my opinion we deserved at least one goal but if we perform like this we will be in a strong situation in the Championship," he said. "Never surrender, maybe in the next games this can be a positive example of how we must play."

Hull showed plenty of effort to the end, and they nearly got a consolation when Lewis Koumas hit a the upright in stoppage time. But this was Chelsea’s night, and another encouraging step forward for their recently-appointed manager at a stadium he is familiar with intimately.

FA Cup Omens Are Promising

The result made for an in the end routine evening’s performance, and the cup competition omens are positive from here for the winners. They have faced Hull on three other occasions in this tournament in the past ten years and every single time, they have gone on to reach the showpiece. There is still done in that respect, but this was another huge positive for the Chelsea boss.