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Against a backdrop of sleet, flurries, and a biting breeze off the banks of the Humber Estuary, alongside a determined home side pushing hard for a top-flight place, this presented all the ingredients of a challenging night's work for Chelsea.

"We could have scored more but the opposition are a strong team and it was a tough fixture; I’m delighted with the display," the manager stated. "Hull City means a lot to me so it was great to get a positive reception from the fans of fans. The attitude of the players was excellent."

The Chelsea manager has this city dear to him, given part of his relatives hail from Hull and his successful period in management of the Tigers. His positive association continued with a magnificent performance from his team, who ultimately strolled into the fifth round of the famous old competition.

Clinical Finishing Seals Comprehensive Win

Seventy-two hours after surrendering a two-goal advantage in the Premier League, there was a sniff of vulnerability about them going into this intriguing cup clash. The capacity Hull crowd evidently felt it too, but Rosenior's men handled the challenge with ease.

The manager made alterations, making multiple of them to his starting lineup. The tie could and maybe ought to have been settled earlier than it eventually was, with both Estêvão Willian and Liam Delap at fault for spurning glorious chances to put their side ahead in the opening period.

However, luckily for the visitors, their Portuguese attacker was in a much more clinical mood. He broke the scoring with a spectacular distance effort, which acted as the catalyst for his team to assume command of proceedings. By full time, they had four, with Neto netting three of them for a superb three-goal haul.

The Forward's Response and Impact

The home side showed plenty of spirit throughout, but the better chances 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 similar nightmare moment in front of goal against his old team.

He blocked a Phillips's kick which came back from the crossbar, and he started to celebrate believing the ball had crossed the line. It had not, and by the time he understood, Hull's backline had reacted to clear the threat.

Delap had his head in his hands after that miss, but he was hugely influential from there on out, providing three key passes. The first was for the opening goal as his through ball teed up Neto to finish from outside the box. Six minutes after the restart, it was 2-0 as the forward's corner went directly in under Phillips's legs.

Contest Put Beyond Doubt and Attention Turns

Seven minutes after Neto’s second goal, the match was effectively ended as a dazzling dribble from Delap laid on his teammate to slide into an empty net. Neto then finished his hat-trick as the provider again played the decisive ball for the attacker to calmly slot by a stranded goalkeeper.

At that point, the effort Hull had done in the opening half-hour had long since erased. Their priority must now switch back to achieving a promotion to the Premier League under Sergej Jakirovic, who rested several first-choice individuals with that goal in mind.

"In my opinion we deserved at least one goal but if we play like this we will be in a very good situation in the Championship," the Hull manager commented. "Never surrender, maybe in the upcoming games this can be a positive lesson of how we should play."

There was plenty of endeavour to the final whistle, and they almost claimed a late goal when a substitute struck a post in injury time. But this was the Blues' night, and another positive stride for their new manager at a stadium he is familiar with very well.

FA Cup History Look Good

The result made for an ultimately routine night's performance, and the FA Cup-shaped signs are positive from here for the winners. They have faced Hull on three other times in this tournament in the last decade and every single time, they have gone on to reach the final. There is still work in that regard, but this was another significant positive for Rosenior.