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Amid sleet, snow, and a swirling breeze from the banks of the Humber, combined with a resolute home side fighting for promotion, this presented all the makings of a challenging evening’s task for Chelsea.

"We might have scored more but the opposition are a strong team and it was a difficult tie; I’m delighted with the display," he said. "This club is very special to me so it was great to get a good welcome from the fans of supporters. The application of the lads was superb."

The Chelsea manager holds this city close to his heart, given part of his family hail from Hull and his successful period in management of the Championship club. This positive connection was extended with a commanding performance from his squad, who in the end strolled into the fifth round of the FA Cup.

Clinical Edge Seals Comprehensive Victory

Three days removed from surrendering a two-goal lead in the Premier League, there was a hint of vulnerability about Chelsea going into this potentially tricky cup clash. The packed Hull crowd clearly sensed it too, but Rosenior's men handled the task with ease.

The manager rang the changes, making multiple of them to his XI. The match might and maybe should have been decided earlier than it eventually was, with two Estêvão Willian and Liam Delap at fault for missing glorious chances to put Chelsea in front in the opening period.

However, luckily for the visitors, Pedro Neto was in a far more clinical mood. He broke the scoring with a marvellous long-range effort, which proved to be the spark for Chelsea to take control of the match. By the final whistle, they had 4 goals, with the forward scoring three of them for a brilliant hat-trick.

Delap's Redemption and Influence

The home side showed plenty of spirit throughout, but the better opportunities always came Chelsea’s way. Estêvão should have opened the deadlock when he went past goalkeeper the Hull stopper before inexplicably firing over. The striker then had a comparable horror incident in front of goal against his former club.

He deflected a the goalkeeper's kick which bounced back from the bar, and he began to run away believing the ball had crossed the line. It had not, and by the time he realised, Hull's defenders had responded to avert the threat.

The player 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 opening goal as his through ball set up his teammate to score from range. Six minutes after the second half began, it was two as the forward's set-piece went directly in under Phillips's legs.

Contest Sealed and Focus Shifts

Seven minutes after Neto’s second, the match was effectively ended as a dazzling run from Delap teed up his teammate to slide into an unguarded goal. The hat-trick hero then finished his hat-trick as the provider again played the crucial ball for the striker to calmly convert by a stranded Phillips.

At that point, the effort Hull had put in in the first half-hour had long since forgotten. Their priority must now return to achieving a promotion to the Premier League under Sergej Jakirovic, who rested several first-choice 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. "Keep fighting, maybe in the next matches this can be a positive lesson of how we must play."

Hull showed great effort to the final whistle, and they almost got a consolation when Lewis Koumas hit a post in stoppage time. But this was Chelsea’s night, and another positive stride for their new head coach at a place he is familiar with very well.

Cup History Look Good

That resulted in an ultimately routine evening’s work, and the cup competition omens are positive from here for the winners. They have played Hull on three previous occasions in this competition in the last decade and on each occasion, they have progressed to reach the showpiece. Much still work in that respect, but this was another significant positive for Rosenior.