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Amid sleet, snow, and a biting wind from the banks of the Humber, combined with a determined Hull City side fighting for promotion, this had all the makings of a challenging evening’s work for the visitors.

"We might have added to our tally but Hull are a strong team and it was a tough tie; I am very pleased with the display," he said. "Hull City means a lot to me so it was nice to get a good welcome from both sets of supporters. The attitude of the lads was superb."

The Chelsea manager has this city dear to him, given some of his family hail from Hull and his enjoyable period in management of the Tigers. His happy connection continued with a commanding performance from his squad, who in the end strolled into the fifth round of the FA Cup.

Clinical Edge Seals Comfortable Win

Three days removed from surrendering a 2-0 advantage in the Premier League, there was a sniff of vulnerability about them going into this potentially tricky cup clash. The packed Hull crowd clearly felt it too, but Rosenior's men navigated the task perfectly.

The manager made alterations, enacting seven of them to his XI. The match could and maybe should have been settled earlier than it actually was, with two Estêvão Willian and Liam Delap at fault for missing excellent chances to put Chelsea ahead 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 spectacular long-range effort, which proved to be the spark for Chelsea to take command of proceedings. By the final whistle, they had four, with Neto scoring three of them for a brilliant hat-trick.

The Forward's Redemption and Impact

The home side showed great spirit throughout, but the clearer opportunities consistently fell Chelsea’s way. The winger should have opened the scoring when he rounded goalkeeper the Hull stopper before inexplicably shooting over. Delap then had a comparable horror incident in front of goal against his old team.

He blocked a the goalkeeper's kick which bounced off the bar, and Delap started to run away thinking the ball had gone over the line. It hadn’t, and by the time he understood, Hull's backline had reacted to clear the danger.

Delap had his head in his hands after that moment, but he was hugely instrumental from that point onward, providing 3 assists. The first was for the opening goal as his through ball teed up his teammate to score from range. Six minutes after the second half began, it was 2-0 as the forward's set-piece went directly in under Phillips's legs.

Tie Put Beyond Doubt and Attention Shifts

Soon after the second goal, the match was effectively ended as a dazzling dribble from the forward laid on his teammate to slide into an empty net. The hat-trick hero then completed his treble as Delap once again delivered the decisive pass for the striker to coolly slot past a stranded Phillips.

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

"I think we deserved at least one goal but if we perform like this we will be in a very good situation in the league," he said. "Keep fighting, maybe in the next games this can be a positive lesson of how we must play."

Hull showed plenty of effort to the end, and they almost got a consolation when Lewis Koumas struck a post in stoppage time. But this was Chelsea’s night, and another encouraging stride for their new manager at a stadium he is familiar with very well.

Cup Omens Are Promising

The result made for an in the end straightforward night's performance, and the cup competition signs are good from here for the winners. They have faced Hull on three other times in this tournament in the past ten years and every single time, they have progressed to make the final. Much still work in that respect, but this was another significant tick for the Chelsea boss.