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Against a backdrop of freezing rain, snow, and a biting wind from the waters of the Humber, alongside a resolute Hull City side pushing hard for promotion, this had all the ingredients of a challenging night's task for Chelsea.

"We could have scored more but Hull are a strong team and it was a difficult tie; I’m delighted with the display," he said. "Hull City means a lot to me so it was great to get a good reception from both sets of fans. The application of the lads was superb."

The Rosenior has this place close to his heart, considering part of his relatives are from Hull and his enjoyable spell in management of the Championship club. His happy connection was extended with a commanding performance from his team, who ultimately sauntered into the fifth round of the famous old competition.

Deadly Finishing Secures Comfortable Win

Seventy-two hours after surrendering a 2-0 lead in the Premier League, there was a hint of fragility about Chelsea going into this intriguing tie. The capacity Hull support evidently felt it too, but Rosenior's men navigated the challenge perfectly.

The manager rang the changes, making multiple of them to his XI. The tie could and maybe should have been settled earlier than it actually was, with both Estêvão Willian and Liam Delap at fault for spurning excellent opportunities to put Chelsea in front in the opening period.

But, luckily for the visitors, Pedro Neto was in a much more ruthless frame of mind. He broke the scoring with a marvellous distance strike, which acted as the spark for Chelsea to take command of the match. By the final whistle, they had 4 goals, with the forward netting a trio of them for a brilliant hat-trick.

The Forward's Redemption and Influence

Hull displayed great spirit all game, but the clearer chances always came to the visitors. The winger ought to have broken the scoring when he went past keeper the Hull stopper before unbelievably shooting over. The striker then had a comparable horror moment in front of goal against his old team.

He blocked a the goalkeeper's clearance which came off the bar, and Delap began to celebrate thinking the ball had gone over the line. It hadn’t, and by the time he understood, Hull's defenders had responded to clear the danger.

Delap had his head in his hands after that miss, but he was hugely instrumental from there on out, providing 3 assists. The first was for the opening goal as his pass set up Neto to finish from outside the box. Shortly after the second half began, it was two as Neto's corner went directly in under Phillips's legs.

Contest Sealed and Focus Turns

Soon after Neto’s second goal, the match was effectively ended as a magnificent run from the forward teed up Estêvão to tap into an empty net. The hat-trick hero then completed his treble as the provider again played the crucial ball for the striker to coolly convert by a helpless goalkeeper.

By that stage, the work Hull had done in the first half-hour had been forgotten. Their focus must now switch back to achieving a promotion to the Premier League under their manager, who rested several first-choice players with that goal in mind.

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

There was great endeavour to the end, and they almost claimed a consolation when a substitute struck a post in stoppage time. But this was Chelsea’s night, and another positive stride for their new manager at a stadium he is familiar with very well.

Cup Omens Are Good

That resulted in an ultimately straightforward evening’s work, and the cup competition omens are positive from here for Chelsea. They have played Hull on three other times in this tournament in the last decade and on each occasion, they have gone on to make the showpiece. There is remains to be done in that respect, but this was another significant positive for Rosenior.