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Against a backdrop of freezing rain, snow, and a swirling breeze from the waters of the Humber Estuary, alongside a resolute Hull City side pushing hard for a top-flight place, this presented all the makings of a difficult evening’s task for the visitors.

"We might have added to our tally but Hull are a good team and it was a difficult tie; I am very pleased with the display," he said. "Hull City means a lot to me so it was nice to get a positive welcome from the fans of supporters. The attitude of the lads was superb."

The Rosenior has this city dear to him, given part of his family hail from Hull and his enjoyable period in management of the Championship club. This positive connection was extended with a magnificent performance from his squad, who in the end strolled into the fifth round of the FA Cup.

Deadly Edge Secures Comfortable Win

Three days removed from letting slip a 2-0 advantage in the league, there was a hint of vulnerability about them going into this potentially tricky cup clash. The capacity Hull support clearly felt it too, but the London side navigated the challenge perfectly.

Rosenior rang the changes, making multiple of them to his starting lineup. The match might and perhaps ought to have been decided long before it actually was, with both the Brazilian winger and Liam Delap guilty of missing excellent chances to put Chelsea in front in the first half.

However, fortunately for the away team, their Portuguese attacker was in a far more clinical mood. He broke the scoring with a spectacular distance effort, which proved to be the catalyst for Chelsea to assume command of the match. By the final whistle, they had 4 goals, with the forward scoring a trio of them for a superb hat-trick.

The Forward's Redemption and Impact

Hull showed great spirit throughout, but the clearer chances consistently came Chelsea’s way. The winger should have broken the deadlock when he went past keeper Dillon Phillips before inexplicably shooting over. The striker then had a comparable horror incident in front of goal against his former club.

He blocked a Phillips's kick which came off the bar, and he began to celebrate thinking the ball had gone over the line. It hadn’t, and by the time he realised, Hull's backline had reacted to avert the threat.

The player had his head in his hands after that miss, but he was hugely influential from that point onward, providing three key passes. The first was for the first goal as his pass set up his teammate to score from outside the box. Shortly after the second half began, it was 2-0 as Neto's corner went directly in through Phillips's legs.

Contest Sealed and Attention Shifts

Seven minutes after the second goal, the match was put beyond doubt as a dazzling run from the forward teed up Estêvão to tap into an unguarded goal. Neto then completed his hat-trick as the provider once again played the decisive ball for the striker to calmly convert past a helpless Phillips.

At that point, the effort Hull had put in in the first thirty minutes had long since forgotten. Their focus must now return to securing a return to the Premier League under their manager, who left out a number of key individuals with that aim in mind.

"In my opinion we earned at least one goal but if we perform like this we will be in a strong position in the Championship," the Hull manager commented. "Keep fighting, maybe in the next games this can be a good example of how we should play."

There was great endeavour to the final whistle, and they almost got a late goal when Lewis Koumas hit a post in injury time. But this was Chelsea’s night, and another positive step forward for their recently-appointed head coach at a place he knows intimately.

FA Cup Omens Look Promising

The result resulted in an ultimately straightforward evening’s work, and the FA Cup-shaped signs are positive from here for the winners. They have played Hull on three previous occasions in this competition in the past ten years and every single time, they have gone on to make the showpiece. There is still done in that regard, but this was another huge positive for the Chelsea boss.