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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 promotion, this presented all the ingredients of a difficult night's work for Chelsea.

"We could have added to our tally but the opposition are a good team and it was a difficult fixture; I am very pleased with the performance," he said. "This club 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 Chelsea manager holds this place close to his heart, considering some of his relatives are from Hull and his enjoyable period in management of the Tigers. This happy association was extended with a commanding performance from his squad, who ultimately strolled into the fifth round of the FA Cup.

Clinical Finishing Secures Comfortable Win

Seventy-two hours removed from letting slip a 2-0 advantage in the Premier League, there was a sniff of vulnerability about Chelsea going into this intriguing tie. The capacity Hull crowd clearly sensed it too, but the London side handled the task perfectly.

Rosenior made alterations, enacting seven of them to his XI. The match might and maybe ought to have been settled earlier than it eventually was, with two the Brazilian winger and Liam Delap guilty of missing excellent chances to put Chelsea ahead in the opening period.

However, luckily for the away team, Pedro Neto was in a far more ruthless mood. He broke the scoring with a spectacular distance strike, which acted as the catalyst for his team to assume control of the match. By the final whistle, they had four, with Neto scoring three of them for a superb hat-trick.

Delap's Response and Impact

Hull showed great spirit all game, but the clearer opportunities consistently fell Chelsea’s way. Estêvão should have broken the scoring when he went past goalkeeper Dillon Phillips before inexplicably shooting over. Delap then had a similar horror incident in front of goal against his former club.

He deflected a Phillips's clearance which came back from the bar, and he started to run away believing the ball had crossed the line. It hadn’t, and by the time he realised, Hull's defenders had responded to clear the threat.

Delap had his head in his hands after that moment, but he was hugely instrumental from there on out, registering three assists. The opening was for the first goal as his through ball teed up Neto to score from range. Six minutes after the restart, it was two as the forward's set-piece went directly in under the keeper's legs.

Contest Put Beyond Doubt and Attention Shifts

Seven minutes after Neto’s second goal, the tie was put beyond doubt as a magnificent dribble from Delap laid on Estêvão to tap into an unguarded goal. The hat-trick hero then completed his hat-trick as the provider again delivered the decisive ball for the striker to coolly convert by a helpless goalkeeper.

At that point, the work Hull had put in in the first thirty minutes had long since erased. Their priority must now return to achieving a promotion to the Premier League under their manager, who left out several key players with that aim 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. "Never surrender, 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 a substitute hit a the upright in injury time. But this was Chelsea’s evening, and another positive stride for their recently-appointed manager at a stadium he knows very well.

FA Cup Omens Are Promising

The result resulted in an in the end routine night's performance, and the cup competition omens are good from here for the winners. They have played Hull on three previous occasions in this tournament in the last decade and on each occasion, they have gone on to make the final. Much remains to be done in that respect, but this was another significant tick for Rosenior.