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Amid sleet, flurries, and a swirling breeze off the banks of the Humber, combined with a determined Hull City side fighting for promotion, this presented all the makings of a challenging night's task for the visitors.

"We might have added to our tally but Hull are a good team and it was a tough fixture; I’m delighted with the performance," he said. "This club means a lot to me so it was nice to get a positive welcome from the fans of supporters. The application of the players was superb."

The Chelsea manager has this place close to his heart, considering some of his family hail from Hull and his successful period in management of the Tigers. This positive association continued with a magnificent performance from his squad, who ultimately sauntered into the fifth round of the famous old competition.

Deadly Finishing Seals Comfortable Victory

Seventy-two hours after surrendering a 2-0 advantage in the Premier League, there was a sniff of fragility about them going into this intriguing cup clash. The capacity home crowd evidently felt it too, but the London side navigated the challenge perfectly.

Rosenior made alterations, making seven of them to his starting lineup. The tie might and maybe should have been settled earlier than it actually was, with two the Brazilian winger and the forward guilty of spurning excellent opportunities to put their side ahead in the first half.

However, fortunately for the away team, Pedro Neto was in a much more ruthless frame of mind. He broke the scoring with a spectacular long-range effort, which proved to be the spark for his team to take command of proceedings. By full time, they had four, with the forward netting a trio of them for a superb hat-trick.

The Forward's Redemption and Impact

Hull showed great fight throughout, but the clearer opportunities always came to the visitors. Estêvão ought to have opened the scoring when he rounded keeper Dillon Phillips before inexplicably shooting over. Delap then had a similar nightmare moment in front of goal against his old team.

He blocked a Phillips's kick which bounced off the crossbar, and Delap started to run away believing the ball had crossed the line. It had not, and by the time he realised, Hull's defenders had reacted to clear the threat.

The player had his head in his hands after that miss, but he was immensely influential from that point onward, registering 3 key passes. The first was for the opening goal as his pass teed up his teammate to score from outside the box. Six minutes after the restart, it was 2-0 as the forward's corner went directly in through the keeper's legs.

Tie Put Beyond Doubt and Focus Turns

Soon after Neto’s second goal, the tie was put beyond doubt as a magnificent dribble from the forward teed up his teammate to tap into an unguarded goal. Neto then finished his treble as the provider once again played the decisive pass for the striker to calmly slot past a stranded Phillips.

By that stage, the effort Hull had put in in the opening thirty minutes had been forgotten. Their focus must now return to securing a return to the Premier League under Sergej Jakirovic, who left out several key players with that aim in mind.

"I think 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. "Never surrender, maybe in the upcoming matches this can be a positive lesson of how we must play."

Hull showed plenty of endeavour to the end, and they almost claimed a late goal when Lewis Koumas struck a the upright in injury time. But this was the Blues' night, and another encouraging stride for their recently-appointed head coach at a stadium he is familiar with very well.

FA Cup Omens Look Good

That resulted in an in the end routine night's performance, and the cup competition omens are positive from here for the winners. They have played Hull on three other occasions in this tournament in the last decade and every single time, they have gone on to make the showpiece. There is remains to be work in that regard, but this was another significant tick for Rosenior.