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Against a backdrop of sleet, flurries, and a biting wind from the waters of the Humber, alongside a resolute home side pushing hard for a top-flight place, this presented all the makings of a challenging night's task for Chelsea.

"We could have added to our tally but Hull are a strong team and it was a difficult fixture; I am delighted with the performance," he said. "Hull City is very special to me so it was great to get a positive reception from both sets of fans. The application of the players was superb."

The Rosenior has this city dear to him, given some of his relatives hail from Hull and his successful spell in charge 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 famous old competition.

Deadly Finishing Secures Comfortable Win

Seventy-two hours removed from letting slip a two-goal advantage in the Premier League, there was a hint of vulnerability about them going into this intriguing cup clash. The packed home crowd evidently felt it too, but the London side handled the task with ease.

Rosenior rang the changes, making multiple of them to his starting lineup. The match could and perhaps should have been settled long before it eventually was, with two Estêvão Willian and Liam Delap guilty of spurning glorious chances to put Chelsea in front in the opening period.

However, fortunately for the away team, their Portuguese attacker was in a far more clinical mood. He opened the scoring with a spectacular long-range effort, which proved to be the spark for his team to assume control of the match. By full time, they had four, with the forward scoring a trio of them for a brilliant three-goal haul.

The Forward's Response and Impact

The home side displayed great fight throughout, but the clearer opportunities consistently came Chelsea’s way. The winger ought to have broken the scoring when he went past keeper the Hull stopper before inexplicably firing over. The striker then had a comparable horror incident in front of goal against his former club.

He blocked a the goalkeeper's clearance which came back from the bar, and he began to run away thinking the ball had crossed the line. It hadn’t, and by the time he realised, Hull's backline had responded to avert the threat.

Delap had his head in his hands after that moment, but he was immensely influential from that point onward, providing three key passes. The opening was for the first goal as his pass teed up his teammate to score from range. Shortly after the restart, it was two as Neto's set-piece went directly in through the keeper's legs.

Contest Put Beyond Doubt and Focus Turns

Seven minutes after the second, the tie was put beyond doubt as a magnificent run from Delap laid on his teammate to tap into an empty net. Neto then finished his treble as Delap again delivered the decisive ball for the attacker to coolly slot past a stranded goalkeeper.

At that point, the work Hull had put in in the first thirty minutes had been erased. Their priority must now switch back to securing a return to the top division under Sergej Jakirovic, who left out several first-choice individuals 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," the Hull manager commented. "Never surrender, maybe in the next matches this can be a good example of how we should play."

There was great endeavour to the end, and they almost got a consolation when a substitute struck a the upright in stoppage time. But this was the Blues' night, and another encouraging stride for their new head coach at a place he knows very well.

FA Cup Omens Are Good

The result resulted in an in the end straightforward night's work, and the FA Cup-shaped signs are good from here for the winners. They have played Hull on three other occasions in this competition in the last decade and on each occasion, they have progressed to make the final. Much remains to be done in that respect, but this was another significant positive for the Chelsea boss.