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Amid sleet, flurries, and a swirling wind from the waters of the Humber, alongside a resolute Hull City side pushing hard for a top-flight place, this presented all the makings of a difficult night's task for Chelsea.

"We might have added to our tally but the opposition are a strong team and it was a difficult tie; I am delighted with the display," the manager stated. "This club means a lot to me so it was nice to get a positive welcome from both sets of supporters. The application of the players was superb."

The Chelsea manager holds this city close to his heart, given part of his relatives are from Hull and his enjoyable period in charge of the Tigers. This happy connection continued with a magnificent display from his team, who in the end strolled into the fifth round of the famous old competition.

Deadly Finishing Seals Comprehensive Win

Seventy-two hours removed from letting slip a 2-0 lead in the Premier League, there was a hint of vulnerability about them going into this potentially tricky cup clash. The capacity Hull crowd clearly felt it too, but Rosenior's men navigated the challenge with ease.

The manager rang the changes, making multiple of them to his starting lineup. The tie could and perhaps ought to have been decided long before it actually was, with both Estêvão Willian and Liam Delap guilty of missing glorious opportunities to put their side in front in the first half.

But, 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 command of the match. By the final whistle, they had four, with Neto scoring three of them for a brilliant three-goal haul.

Delap's Response and Influence

Hull displayed great fight throughout, but the better opportunities always came Chelsea’s way. Estêvão should have broken the scoring when he rounded goalkeeper the Hull stopper before inexplicably shooting over. The striker then had a comparable nightmare moment in front of goal against his old team.

He deflected a the goalkeeper's kick which came back from the bar, and he started 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 clear the threat.

The player had his head in his hands after that miss, but he was immensely influential from there on out, registering three assists. The opening was for the opening goal as his pass teed up his teammate to score from range. Six minutes after the restart, it was two as Neto's corner went directly in under Phillips's legs.

Contest Put Beyond Doubt and Attention Turns

Seven minutes after the second goal, the tie was effectively ended as a dazzling dribble from the forward teed up Estêvão to tap into an empty net. The hat-trick hero then finished his treble as the provider again delivered the crucial pass for the attacker to calmly convert by a stranded Phillips.

At that point, the work Hull had done in the opening half-hour had long since forgotten. Their focus must now switch back to achieving a promotion to the top division under their manager, who rested a number of first-choice individuals with that aim in mind.

"In my opinion we deserved at least one goal but if we perform like this we will be in a strong position in the Championship," he said. "Never surrender, maybe in the next games this can be a good example of how we should play."

Hull showed plenty of endeavour to the end, and they nearly claimed a late goal when Lewis Koumas hit a the upright in injury time. But this was Chelsea’s night, and another encouraging stride for their recently-appointed manager at a place he knows very well.

FA Cup Omens Are Good

That made for an in the end routine evening’s performance, and the cup competition omens are positive from here for the winners. They have faced Hull on three previous times in this tournament in the last decade and every single time, they have progressed to make the showpiece. There is remains to be done in that regard, but this was another huge tick for Rosenior.