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Against a backdrop of freezing rain, snow, and a swirling wind from the banks of the Humber Estuary, combined with a determined Hull City side fighting for promotion, this had all the ingredients of a difficult evening’s work for Chelsea.

"We could have added to our tally but Hull are a good team and it was a difficult fixture; I am very pleased with the performance," the manager stated. "Hull City means a lot to me so it was nice to get a positive welcome from the fans of fans. The application of the players was excellent."

The Rosenior holds this place close to his heart, considering part of his family are from Hull and his enjoyable spell in charge of the Tigers. His happy connection continued with a commanding performance from his team, who ultimately sauntered into the fifth round of the FA Cup.

Deadly Finishing Seals Comfortable Victory

Three days after letting slip a two-goal lead in the league, there was a sniff of fragility about Chelsea going into this intriguing tie. The packed Hull support clearly sensed it too, but Rosenior's men navigated the task perfectly.

The manager rang the changes, enacting seven of them to his starting lineup. The match could and perhaps should have been decided earlier than it eventually was, with both the Brazilian winger and the forward at fault for spurning glorious opportunities to put their side in front in the first half.

However, fortunately for the away team, Pedro Neto was in a much more clinical mood. He broke the deadlock with a marvellous distance effort, which acted as the spark for his team to assume command of the match. By the final whistle, they had 4 goals, with the forward netting three of them for a superb three-goal haul.

Delap's Redemption and Impact

Hull showed great spirit all game, but the clearer chances consistently fell to the visitors. Estêvão ought to have opened the deadlock when he rounded keeper the Hull stopper before inexplicably firing over. The striker then had a comparable nightmare incident in front of goal against his former club.

He blocked a Phillips's kick which bounced off the crossbar, and he began to celebrate thinking the ball had gone over the line. It had not, and by the time he understood, Hull's defenders had responded to avert the threat.

The player had his head in his hands after that miss, but he was hugely instrumental from there on out, providing 3 key passes. The first was for the opening goal as his through ball teed up Neto to score from range. Six minutes after the restart, it was 2-0 as Neto's corner went straight in through Phillips's legs.

Contest Put Beyond Doubt and Attention Shifts

Soon after the second, the match was effectively ended as a dazzling dribble from Delap teed up his teammate to tap into an empty net. The hat-trick hero then completed his hat-trick as the provider once again played the crucial pass for the attacker to calmly slot by a stranded goalkeeper.

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

"In my opinion we earned 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 positive lesson of how we should play."

Hull showed plenty of effort to the end, and they nearly got a late goal when Lewis Koumas hit a the upright in stoppage time. But this was the Blues' evening, and another encouraging step forward for their new manager at a stadium he is familiar with intimately.

FA Cup History Are Good

That resulted in an ultimately routine night's performance, and the FA Cup-shaped omens are positive from here for Chelsea. They have faced Hull on three other times in this tournament in the past ten years and every single time, they have progressed to reach the final. There is remains to be done in that respect, but this was another significant positive for the Chelsea boss.