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Against a backdrop of freezing rain, snow, and a biting wind off the waters of the Humber Estuary, alongside a resolute home side pushing hard for promotion, this presented all the ingredients of a difficult evening’s task for the visitors.

"We might have added to our tally but the opposition are a good team and it was a tough fixture; I am delighted with the display," the manager stated. "Hull City is very special to me so it was nice to get a good reception from the fans of fans. The attitude of the lads was superb."

The Rosenior has this place dear to him, considering some of his relatives are from Hull and his successful period in management of the Championship club. This positive connection was extended with a magnificent performance from his team, who ultimately strolled into the next round of the FA Cup.

Clinical Finishing Secures Comprehensive Victory

Three days after letting slip a two-goal advantage in the Premier League, there was a hint of fragility about Chelsea going into this intriguing tie. The capacity Hull crowd evidently sensed it too, but the London side handled the task perfectly.

Rosenior rang the changes, making multiple of them to his starting lineup. The match could and maybe ought to have been decided long before it actually was, with two the Brazilian winger and Liam Delap at fault for spurning excellent chances to put their side ahead in the first half.

But, luckily for the away team, Pedro Neto was in a much more clinical frame of mind. He opened the scoring with a marvellous distance effort, which proved to be the spark for Chelsea to assume command of the match. By full time, they had 4 goals, with Neto scoring a trio of them for a brilliant three-goal haul.

The Forward's Response and Influence

The home side showed plenty of fight throughout, but the clearer chances always fell Chelsea’s way. The winger should have opened the deadlock when he rounded keeper Dillon Phillips before inexplicably firing over. Delap then had a comparable nightmare incident in front of goal against his old team.

He blocked a the goalkeeper's clearance which came off the crossbar, and Delap began to celebrate believing 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 moment, but he was hugely influential from that point onward, providing three key passes. The first was for the first goal as his through ball teed up Neto to finish from range. Six minutes after the restart, it was two as the forward's set-piece went directly in under Phillips's legs.

Contest Sealed and Attention Turns

Soon after Neto’s second, the match was effectively ended as a magnificent run from Delap laid on his teammate to tap into an empty net. Neto then completed his treble as Delap again played the decisive ball for the attacker to calmly convert by a helpless Phillips.

By that stage, the effort Hull had done in the opening thirty minutes had been erased. Their priority must now switch back to achieving a return to the Premier League under their manager, who rested several key individuals with that aim in mind.

"I think we deserved at least one goal but if we play like this we will be in a strong situation in the league," he said. "Keep fighting, maybe in the next matches this can be a good lesson of how we must play."

Hull showed plenty of effort to the final whistle, and they nearly claimed a consolation when Lewis Koumas struck a post in stoppage time. But this was Chelsea’s evening, and another positive step forward for their new manager at a place he is familiar with very well.

Cup History Are Promising

That made for an ultimately straightforward night's work, 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 past ten years and on each occasion, they have gone on to make the showpiece. There is still done in that regard, but this was another significant positive for Rosenior.