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Amid sleet, snow, and a swirling breeze off the waters of the Humber, alongside a determined home side pushing hard for a top-flight place, this had all the makings of a difficult evening’s task for the visitors.

"We might have added to our tally but Hull are a strong team and it was a tough fixture; I’m very pleased with the display," the manager stated. "Hull City means a lot to me so it was nice to get a positive welcome from both sets of supporters. The attitude of the lads was excellent."

The Chelsea manager has this city dear to him, given part of his family hail from Hull and his enjoyable period in charge of the Championship club. His happy association was extended with a commanding performance from his team, who in the end sauntered into the fifth round of the FA Cup.

Clinical Edge Secures Comprehensive Victory

Seventy-two hours removed from surrendering a two-goal lead in the league, there was a sniff of fragility about Chelsea going into this potentially tricky tie. The capacity home crowd clearly sensed it too, but Rosenior's men handled the challenge perfectly.

Rosenior made alterations, making multiple of them to his XI. The match might and maybe should have been decided long before it actually was, with two the Brazilian winger and Liam Delap at fault for missing excellent chances to put Chelsea in front in the opening period.

But, luckily for the visitors, their Portuguese attacker was in a far more clinical mood. He opened the deadlock with a marvellous long-range strike, which proved to be the spark for his team to assume command of proceedings. By full time, they had 4 goals, with Neto netting three of them for a brilliant hat-trick.

The Forward's Response and Influence

Hull showed great spirit throughout, but the better opportunities consistently fell Chelsea’s way. Estêvão ought to have broken the deadlock when he went past goalkeeper Dillon Phillips before inexplicably firing over. Delap then had a comparable nightmare moment in front of goal against his former club.

He blocked a Phillips's kick which bounced back from the crossbar, and Delap started to run away believing the ball had gone over the line. It had not, and by the time he realised, Hull's defenders had responded to avert the threat.

Delap had his head in his hands after that miss, but he was hugely influential from there on out, registering three assists. The opening was for the first goal as his through ball set up his teammate to score from outside the box. Shortly after the restart, it was two as Neto's set-piece went directly in under the keeper's legs.

Contest Put Beyond Doubt and Focus Shifts

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

At that point, the work Hull had put in in the opening thirty minutes had long since forgotten. Their focus must now switch back to securing a return to the top division under their manager, who left out a number of first-choice players with that aim 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," the Hull manager commented. "Keep fighting, maybe in the upcoming matches this can be a good lesson of how we should play."

Hull showed great effort to the final whistle, and they nearly claimed a consolation when a substitute hit a the upright in stoppage time. But this was Chelsea’s night, and another positive stride for their recently-appointed head coach at a place he is familiar with very well.

FA Cup History Are Good

That resulted in an in the end straightforward evening’s performance, and the cup competition omens are positive from here for the winners. They have faced Hull on three other times in this competition in the past ten years and every single time, they have gone on to make the final. There is still work in that regard, but this was another huge positive for the Chelsea boss.