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Against a backdrop of freezing rain, snow, and a biting breeze off the banks of the Humber, alongside a resolute Hull City side pushing hard for a top-flight place, this presented all the ingredients of a difficult night's work for the visitors.

"We might have scored more but the opposition are a good team and it was a difficult tie; I am very pleased with the display," he said. "Hull City means a lot to me so it was great to get a positive reception from both sets of fans. The attitude of the lads was superb."

The Rosenior has this city dear to him, considering part of his relatives are from Hull and his enjoyable spell in management of the Championship club. This positive connection was extended with a commanding performance from his squad, who in the end sauntered into the fifth round of the FA Cup.

Clinical Finishing Secures Comprehensive Victory

Seventy-two hours after letting slip a 2-0 lead in the Premier League, there was a sniff of fragility about them going into this intriguing cup clash. The capacity Hull support clearly sensed it too, but Rosenior's men handled the challenge with ease.

Rosenior made alterations, enacting multiple of them to his XI. The tie might and perhaps should have been decided long before it actually was, with two Estêvão Willian and the forward guilty of spurning excellent chances to put Chelsea in front in the opening period.

But, fortunately for the visitors, Pedro Neto was in a far more clinical frame of mind. He broke the deadlock with a marvellous long-range effort, which proved to be the catalyst for Chelsea to take command of proceedings. By the final whistle, they had 4 goals, with Neto scoring a trio of them for a superb hat-trick.

The Forward's Response and Impact

Hull displayed great spirit all game, but the clearer opportunities consistently came Chelsea’s way. Estêvão ought to have broken the deadlock when he rounded goalkeeper Dillon Phillips before inexplicably shooting over. Delap then had a comparable horror incident in front of goal against his former club.

He deflected a Phillips's kick which came back from the bar, and he began to celebrate thinking the ball had gone over the line. It hadn’t, and by the time he realised, Hull's defenders had responded to clear the threat.

The player had his head in his hands after that miss, but he was immensely influential from that point onward, registering 3 assists. The first was for the first goal as his pass teed up Neto to finish from range. Six minutes after the second half began, it was two as the forward's corner went directly in under Phillips's legs.

Tie Put Beyond Doubt and Focus Turns

Soon after Neto’s second goal, the tie was put beyond doubt as a dazzling dribble from Delap teed up Estêvão to slide into an unguarded goal. The hat-trick hero then completed his hat-trick as the provider again played the decisive ball for the attacker to calmly convert by a helpless Phillips.

By that stage, the work Hull had put in in the opening thirty minutes had long since forgotten. Their priority must now switch back to achieving a return to the top division under their manager, who rested several first-choice players with that goal in mind.

"I think we earned at least one goal but if we perform like this we will be in a very good position in the Championship," he said. "Never surrender, maybe in the next games this can be a positive lesson of how we should play."

There was plenty of effort to the end, and they nearly claimed a late goal when a substitute struck a the upright in stoppage time. But this was the Blues' night, and another encouraging step forward for their new head coach at a place he is familiar with very well.

FA Cup History Are Promising

The result made for an in the end routine evening’s work, and the FA Cup-shaped omens are good from here for Chelsea. They have faced Hull on three previous occasions in this tournament in the last decade and every single time, they have progressed to make the final. There is still done in that regard, but this was another huge tick for the Chelsea boss.