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Amid sleet, snow, and a swirling wind off the waters of the Humber, combined with a resolute home side fighting for promotion, this had all the ingredients of a difficult evening’s task for Chelsea.

"We might have scored more but the opposition are a strong team and it was a tough fixture; I’m very pleased with the display," the manager stated. "Hull City means a lot to me so it was nice to get a positive reception from both sets of fans. The application of the lads was excellent."

The Chelsea manager has this place close to his heart, considering part of his family are from Hull and his successful period in management of the Championship club. His positive connection was extended with a commanding performance from his team, who ultimately sauntered into the fifth round of the FA Cup.

Clinical Edge Secures Comfortable Win

Three days removed from letting slip a two-goal advantage in the league, there was a sniff of fragility about them going into this intriguing tie. The packed home support evidently sensed it too, but the London side handled the challenge perfectly.

Rosenior made alterations, making multiple of them to his starting lineup. The match might and maybe ought to have been decided earlier than it eventually was, with both the Brazilian winger and Liam Delap guilty of missing excellent opportunities to put Chelsea ahead in the first half.

However, fortunately for the away team, their Portuguese attacker was in a far more ruthless mood. He opened the scoring with a spectacular long-range strike, which proved to be the spark for his team to assume command of the match. By the final whistle, they had 4 goals, with the forward netting a trio of them for a brilliant three-goal haul.

The Forward's Response and Influence

The home side displayed great spirit throughout, but the clearer opportunities always came to the visitors. The winger ought to have opened the scoring when he went past keeper Dillon Phillips before inexplicably firing over. The striker then had a comparable nightmare incident in front of goal against his former club.

He blocked a Phillips's clearance which bounced off the crossbar, and he began to run away believing the ball had crossed the line. It had not, and by the time he understood, Hull's defenders had responded to avert the threat.

The player had his head in his hands after that moment, but he was hugely influential from there on out, registering 3 key passes. The first was for the first goal as his pass teed up Neto to score from range. Shortly after the second half began, it was 2-0 as the forward's corner went straight in under the keeper's legs.

Contest Put Beyond Doubt and Focus Turns

Seven minutes after the second, the match was put beyond doubt as a dazzling dribble from Delap laid on his teammate to tap into an empty net. The hat-trick hero then finished his treble as Delap once again delivered the crucial pass for the striker to coolly convert by a helpless Phillips.

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 achieving a return to the top division under Sergej Jakirovic, who rested a number of first-choice individuals with that goal in mind.

"In my opinion we deserved at least one goal but if we perform 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 good lesson of how we should play."

Hull showed plenty of endeavour to the end, and they nearly claimed a consolation when a substitute struck a post in stoppage time. But this was Chelsea’s evening, and another encouraging stride for their new manager at a stadium he is familiar with very well.

FA Cup Omens Look Promising

The result resulted in an ultimately routine night's performance, and the FA Cup-shaped signs are positive from here for Chelsea. They have faced Hull on three other times in this tournament in the past ten years and on each occasion, they have gone on to reach the showpiece. Much still done in that respect, but this was another significant positive for the Chelsea boss.