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Against a backdrop of freezing rain, flurries, and a swirling breeze from the banks of the Humber, combined with a determined home side pushing hard for promotion, this had all the ingredients of a difficult evening’s work for the visitors.

"We might have added to our tally but the opposition are a good team and it was a difficult tie; I am very pleased with the performance," he said. "This club means a lot to me so it was nice to get a good reception from both sets of supporters. The application of the players was superb."

The Rosenior has this place close to his heart, considering part of his family are from Hull and his successful spell in charge of the Championship club. This positive connection continued with a commanding display from his team, who in the end strolled into the fifth round of the FA Cup.

Deadly Finishing Secures Comprehensive Victory

Seventy-two hours removed from letting slip a two-goal advantage in the league, there was a hint of fragility about Chelsea going into this intriguing cup clash. The capacity home support clearly felt it too, but the London side navigated the task perfectly.

The manager made alterations, enacting multiple of them to his starting lineup. The tie might and maybe ought to have been settled long before it actually was, with two Estêvão Willian and Liam Delap at fault for 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 opened the deadlock with a marvellous distance effort, which acted as the spark for Chelsea to assume control of proceedings. By full time, they had four, with the forward scoring three of them for a superb three-goal haul.

Delap's Response and Impact

The home side showed plenty of spirit all game, but the clearer opportunities consistently came to the visitors. Estêvão ought to have broken the scoring when he went past goalkeeper the Hull stopper before inexplicably firing over. The striker then had a similar horror incident in front of goal against his old team.

He deflected a the goalkeeper's kick which bounced off the crossbar, and Delap started to run away thinking the ball had crossed the line. It hadn’t, and by the time he understood, Hull's defenders had responded to clear the danger.

The player had his head in his hands after that miss, but he was hugely instrumental from that point onward, providing three key passes. The first was for the opening goal as his pass set up Neto to finish from outside the box. Shortly after the restart, it was 2-0 as the forward's set-piece went directly in through Phillips's legs.

Contest Put Beyond Doubt and Focus Shifts

Seven minutes after the second goal, the match was effectively ended as a magnificent dribble from the forward teed up his teammate to slide into an empty net. The hat-trick hero then finished his treble as Delap again delivered the crucial pass for the striker to calmly slot by a helpless Phillips.

By that stage, the work Hull had put in in the first thirty minutes had been erased. Their priority must now return to securing a return to the top division under their manager, who left out a number of key players with that aim in mind.

"I think we deserved at least one goal but if we perform like this we will be in a strong situation in the league," the Hull manager commented. "Keep fighting, maybe in the upcoming matches this can be a positive lesson of how we should play."

There was plenty of endeavour to the end, and they almost got a late goal when Lewis Koumas struck 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 very well.

FA Cup Omens Are Promising

The result made for an in the end routine evening’s performance, and the FA Cup-shaped omens are positive from here for Chelsea. They have played Hull on three previous times in this tournament in the last decade and on each occasion, they have gone on to make the final. There is still done in that regard, but this was another significant positive for the Chelsea boss.