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Against a backdrop of sleet, snow, and a biting breeze from the banks of the Humber Estuary, alongside a determined Hull City side fighting for a top-flight place, this had all the makings of a challenging night's task for Chelsea.

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

Liam Chelsea manager holds this place close to his heart, considering part of his relatives hail from Hull and his enjoyable spell in charge of the Championship club. This positive association was extended with a magnificent performance from his squad, who ultimately strolled into the fifth round of the FA Cup.

Deadly Finishing Seals Comprehensive Victory

Seventy-two hours after letting slip a 2-0 advantage in the league, there was a hint of vulnerability about them going into this intriguing tie. The capacity home crowd evidently sensed it too, but the London side handled the task with ease.

Rosenior rang the changes, enacting seven of them to his XI. The match could and perhaps ought to have been settled earlier than it actually was, with both the Brazilian winger and Liam Delap guilty of spurning glorious opportunities to put their side ahead in the first half.

However, fortunately for the away team, Pedro Neto was in a far more clinical frame of mind. He broke the deadlock with a spectacular long-range strike, which acted as the catalyst for his team to assume control of proceedings. By the final whistle, they had four, with Neto scoring three of them for a superb hat-trick.

The Forward's Redemption and Influence

Hull displayed plenty of spirit all game, but the clearer chances consistently came to the visitors. Estêvão ought to have broken the scoring when he rounded keeper the Hull stopper before unbelievably shooting over. Delap then had a similar nightmare incident in front of goal against his former club.

He deflected a Phillips's kick which came back from 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 responded to avert the threat.

Delap had his head in his hands after that moment, but he was hugely influential from there on out, 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 second half began, it was two as the forward's corner went directly in under Phillips's legs.

Tie Put Beyond Doubt and Focus Turns

Seven minutes after Neto’s second, the match was put beyond doubt as a magnificent run from Delap laid on Estêvão to slide into an unguarded goal. Neto then finished his treble as Delap once again delivered the decisive ball for the attacker to coolly convert past a helpless goalkeeper.

By that stage, the work Hull had put in in the opening half-hour had long since forgotten. Their focus must now switch back to securing a promotion to the Premier League under Sergej Jakirovic, who rested several first-choice players with that aim in mind.

"I think we deserved at least one goal but if we play like this we will be in a very good situation in the Championship," the Hull manager commented. "Keep fighting, maybe in the upcoming games 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 late goal when a substitute struck a post in injury time. But this was the Blues' evening, and another encouraging step forward for their recently-appointed manager at a place he is familiar with intimately.

FA Cup Omens Are Good

That made for an in the end routine evening’s performance, and the cup competition signs are positive from here for Chelsea. They have faced Hull on three previous occasions in this tournament in the past ten years and every single time, they have gone on to reach the final. Much remains to be done in that respect, but this was another huge positive for Rosenior.