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Amid freezing rain, snow, and a swirling wind off the waters of the Humber Estuary, combined with a resolute Hull City side fighting for a top-flight place, this had all the ingredients of a challenging night's work for Chelsea.

"We could have scored more but Hull are a strong team and it was a difficult tie; I’m delighted with the performance," he said. "This club is very special to me so it was nice to get a good reception from both sets of supporters. The application of the lads was excellent."

The Rosenior holds this city dear to him, given some of his relatives are from Hull and his enjoyable spell in charge of the Tigers. His positive association continued with a commanding performance from his team, who in the end strolled into the fifth round of the FA Cup.

Clinical Edge Secures Comprehensive Win

Three days removed from letting slip a two-goal lead in the league, there was a sniff of vulnerability about Chelsea going into this intriguing tie. The packed Hull support clearly felt it too, but Rosenior's men navigated the task with ease.

The manager rang the changes, enacting multiple of them to his XI. The tie could and perhaps should have been decided earlier than it eventually was, with two Estêvão Willian and Liam Delap at fault for spurning glorious opportunities to put Chelsea in front in the opening period.

However, luckily for the visitors, their Portuguese attacker was in a far more ruthless mood. He broke the deadlock with a marvellous distance effort, which proved to be the catalyst for Chelsea to assume command of the match. By full time, they had four, with Neto netting three of them for a brilliant three-goal haul.

Delap's Redemption and Impact

The home side displayed great spirit throughout, but the clearer opportunities consistently fell Chelsea’s way. Estêvão should have opened the deadlock when he rounded goalkeeper Dillon Phillips before inexplicably shooting over. The striker then had a similar nightmare incident in front of goal against his old team.

He deflected a Phillips's kick which bounced off the crossbar, and Delap began to celebrate believing the ball had crossed the line. It had not, and by the time he understood, Hull's backline had responded to clear the threat.

The player had his head in his hands after that moment, but he was hugely instrumental from that point onward, providing 3 assists. The opening was for the first goal as his through ball set up Neto to score from range. Shortly after the second half began, it was two as Neto's set-piece went straight in under Phillips's legs.

Contest Put Beyond Doubt and Focus Turns

Seven minutes after the second, the match was effectively ended as a magnificent dribble from Delap laid on Estêvão to slide into an empty net. The hat-trick hero then completed his hat-trick as Delap again played the crucial ball for the attacker to coolly slot by a helpless Phillips.

By that stage, the work Hull had put in in the opening thirty minutes had been erased. Their priority must now switch back to securing a promotion to the top division under their manager, who rested several first-choice individuals with that aim in mind.

"In my opinion we deserved at least one goal but if we play like this we will be in a strong position in the Championship," he said. "Keep fighting, maybe in the upcoming games this can be a good lesson of how we should play."

There was plenty of endeavour to the end, and they nearly got a consolation when a substitute hit a post in injury time. But this was Chelsea’s evening, and another positive stride for their new head coach at a place he knows very well.

FA Cup History Look Good

The result made for an in the end routine evening’s work, and the FA Cup-shaped signs are positive from here for Chelsea. They have faced Hull on three other occasions in this competition in the last decade and on each occasion, they have gone on to reach the showpiece. Much remains to be work in that regard, but this was another huge tick for Rosenior.