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Amid sleet, flurries, and a swirling breeze from the banks of the Humber Estuary, alongside a determined Hull City side pushing hard for promotion, this presented all the ingredients of a difficult night's work for Chelsea.

"We could have added to our tally but the opposition are a good team and it was a difficult tie; I’m very pleased with the performance," the manager stated. "This club means a lot to me so it was great to get a good welcome from both sets of supporters. The application of the players was superb."

The Rosenior holds this place close to his heart, considering some of his family are from Hull and his enjoyable period in charge of the Tigers. This happy association continued with a commanding performance from his team, who in the end strolled into the fifth round of the FA Cup.

Deadly Edge Secures Comprehensive Win

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

Rosenior rang the changes, making seven of them to his starting lineup. The tie could and maybe ought to have been decided earlier than it eventually was, with two Estêvão Willian and Liam Delap guilty of spurning glorious opportunities to put Chelsea ahead in the opening period.

But, fortunately for the away team, Pedro Neto was in a much more ruthless mood. He broke the scoring with a marvellous distance effort, which acted as the catalyst for his team to assume control of the match. By full time, they had 4 goals, with Neto scoring a trio of them for a brilliant three-goal haul.

The Forward's Response and Impact

The home side displayed great spirit all game, but the better opportunities always came Chelsea’s way. The winger should have opened the deadlock when he went past goalkeeper the Hull stopper before unbelievably firing over. The striker then had a comparable nightmare moment in front of goal against his former club.

He deflected a Phillips's clearance which came back from the crossbar, and he started to run away thinking the ball had crossed the line. It had not, and by the time he realised, Hull's defenders had reacted to clear the danger.

Delap had his head in his hands after that moment, but he was immensely influential from there on out, providing three assists. The opening was for the opening goal as his pass set up his teammate to score from outside the box. Shortly after the second half began, it was 2-0 as the forward's corner went straight in through Phillips's legs.

Contest Put Beyond Doubt and Focus Turns

Soon after Neto’s second goal, the match was effectively ended as a magnificent run from Delap laid on Estêvão to tap into an empty net. The hat-trick hero then finished his treble as Delap again delivered the crucial ball for the striker to coolly slot past a helpless Phillips.

By that stage, the effort Hull had put in in the opening half-hour had been forgotten. Their focus must now return to securing a return to the top division under Sergej Jakirovic, who rested a number of first-choice individuals with that aim in mind.

"In my opinion we earned at least one goal but if we play like this we will be in a strong situation in the league," he said. "Never surrender, maybe in the next matches this can be a good lesson of how we must play."

Hull showed great endeavour to the final whistle, and they almost claimed a consolation when a substitute hit a the upright in stoppage time. But this was Chelsea’s evening, and another encouraging stride for their new head coach at a place he knows very well.

Cup Omens Are Good

The result made for an in the end straightforward evening’s work, and the FA Cup-shaped omens are positive from here for the winners. They have played Hull on three other occasions in this tournament in the past ten years and on each occasion, they have progressed to make the final. Much still done in that regard, but this was another huge positive for the Chelsea boss.