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Amid freezing rain, snow, and a swirling breeze from the waters of the Humber Estuary, combined with a resolute Hull City side fighting for promotion, this had all the ingredients of a challenging night's work for Chelsea.

"We might have added to our tally but the opposition are a good team and it was a difficult fixture; I am delighted with the display," he said. "This club is very special to me so it was great to get a good welcome from both sets of fans. The application of the lads was excellent."

The Rosenior holds this place dear to him, given some of his relatives are from Hull and his successful spell in management of the Tigers. His positive connection continued with a magnificent performance from his team, who ultimately strolled into the fifth round of the famous old competition.

Deadly Edge Seals Comfortable Victory

Seventy-two hours after surrendering a two-goal advantage in the Premier League, there was a hint of fragility about Chelsea going into this potentially tricky cup clash. The packed home support evidently felt it too, but Rosenior's men navigated the task with ease.

The manager made alterations, making seven of them to his starting lineup. The tie could and perhaps ought to have been decided earlier than it eventually was, with both Estêvão Willian and Liam Delap guilty of spurning glorious opportunities to put Chelsea ahead in the first half.

However, fortunately for the visitors, Pedro Neto was in a far more clinical frame of mind. He broke the deadlock with a marvellous distance strike, which acted as the spark for Chelsea to take control of the match. By full time, they had 4 goals, with Neto scoring a trio of them for a superb three-goal haul.

The Forward's Redemption and Impact

Hull showed great fight throughout, but the clearer chances always fell Chelsea’s way. Estêvão ought to have broken the scoring when he rounded keeper the Hull stopper before inexplicably shooting over. The striker then had a similar nightmare moment in front of goal against his former club.

He blocked a the goalkeeper's clearance which came back from the crossbar, and he began to celebrate believing the ball had crossed the line. It had not, and by the time he realised, Hull's backline had reacted to clear the threat.

The player had his head in his hands after that miss, but he was hugely influential from there on out, registering 3 key passes. The opening was for the opening goal as his pass set up Neto to finish from range. Six minutes after the restart, it was two as Neto's set-piece went directly in through the keeper's legs.

Contest Put Beyond Doubt and Attention Shifts

Soon after the second, the tie was put beyond doubt as a magnificent run from Delap laid on Estêvão to tap into an unguarded goal. Neto then finished his treble as the provider again played the decisive ball for the striker to calmly slot by a stranded goalkeeper.

At that point, the work Hull had put in in the opening thirty minutes had long since forgotten. Their focus must now return to achieving a return to the Premier League under Sergej Jakirovic, who left out a number of first-choice players with that goal in mind.

"In my opinion we earned at least one goal but if we perform like this we will be in a very good position in the league," he said. "Keep fighting, maybe in the next games this can be a positive example of how we must play."

Hull showed great effort 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 stride for their new manager at a stadium he is familiar with intimately.

FA Cup Omens Look Promising

That made for an in the end routine evening’s performance, and the FA Cup-shaped omens are positive from here for the winners. They have faced Hull on three previous occasions in this competition in the past ten years and on each occasion, they have gone on to make the showpiece. There is still work in that respect, but this was another huge positive for Rosenior.