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Against a backdrop of freezing rain, flurries, and a swirling breeze off the banks of the Humber Estuary, alongside a resolute home side pushing hard for a top-flight place, this presented all the ingredients of a difficult evening’s task for the visitors.

"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 nice to get a good welcome from the fans of fans. The application of the players was superb."

The Chelsea manager has this place close to his heart, considering part of his family hail from Hull and his enjoyable period in charge of the Tigers. His happy connection was extended with a commanding performance from his team, who in the end strolled into the next round of the FA Cup.

Clinical Edge Seals Comfortable Win

Seventy-two hours after letting slip a two-goal advantage in the league, there was a hint of fragility about Chelsea going into this intriguing tie. The capacity home support clearly felt it too, but Rosenior's men navigated the task with ease.

The manager rang the changes, making seven of them to his XI. The match could and perhaps ought to have been settled earlier than it actually was, with two the Brazilian winger and Liam Delap guilty of missing excellent chances to put their side in front in the first half.

But, fortunately for the away team, their Portuguese attacker was in a far more clinical mood. He broke the deadlock with a marvellous distance strike, which proved to be the catalyst for Chelsea to assume control of the match. By the final whistle, they had 4 goals, with Neto netting three of them for a superb three-goal haul.

The Forward's Response and Influence

The home side showed plenty of spirit all game, but the better opportunities consistently fell Chelsea’s way. Estêvão should have broken the scoring when he went past goalkeeper Dillon Phillips before inexplicably firing over. The striker then had a comparable nightmare incident in front of goal against his former club.

He deflected a Phillips's clearance which bounced back from the bar, and Delap began to celebrate believing the ball had gone over the line. It had not, and by the time he understood, Hull's defenders had responded to avert the danger.

Delap had his head in his hands after that miss, but he was hugely instrumental from there on out, providing 3 assists. The opening was for the first goal as his pass set up Neto to score from outside the box. Six minutes after the restart, it was 2-0 as Neto's corner went directly in through Phillips's legs.

Contest Sealed and Focus Shifts

Soon after Neto’s second, the tie was effectively ended as a magnificent dribble from Delap teed up his teammate to slide into an unguarded goal. The hat-trick hero then completed his treble as the provider again played the decisive pass for the attacker to calmly slot by a helpless Phillips.

By that stage, the work Hull had done in the first thirty minutes had long since erased. Their priority must now return to achieving a promotion to the Premier League 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 very good position in the league," the Hull manager commented. "Keep fighting, maybe in the next matches this can be a positive example of how we should play."

There was great endeavour to the final whistle, and they nearly claimed a consolation when a substitute hit a the upright in stoppage time. But this was the Blues' evening, and another encouraging stride for their new head coach at a stadium he knows intimately.

FA Cup Omens Look Good

The result resulted in an ultimately straightforward evening’s performance, and the FA Cup-shaped omens are good from here for the winners. They have faced Hull on three other occasions in this competition in the past ten years and every single time, they have gone on to reach the final. Much still work in that regard, but this was another significant positive for the Chelsea boss.