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Amid sleet, flurries, and a swirling breeze off the waters of the Humber, alongside a determined home side pushing hard for a top-flight place, this had all the makings of a challenging night's work for Chelsea.

"We could have added to our tally but the opposition are a good team and it was a difficult tie; I’m delighted with the display," he said. "This club is very special to me so it was nice to get a positive welcome from the fans of fans. The application of the players was superb."

The Chelsea manager holds this city close to his heart, given part of his family are from Hull and his successful period in charge of the Championship club. His positive connection continued with a commanding performance from his team, who in the end strolled into the fifth round of the FA Cup.

Clinical Finishing Seals Comprehensive Victory

Three days removed from letting slip a two-goal lead in the Premier League, there was a hint of fragility about Chelsea going into this intriguing cup clash. The packed home crowd clearly felt it too, but Rosenior's men handled the task with ease.

Rosenior rang the changes, making seven of them to his XI. The match could and maybe ought to have been settled earlier than it actually was, with two Estêvão Willian and the forward guilty of missing glorious opportunities to put their side in front in the first half.

But, fortunately for the visitors, their Portuguese attacker was in a far more clinical frame of mind. He opened the scoring with a spectacular long-range effort, which proved to be the spark for his team to assume control of proceedings. By full time, they had 4 goals, with the forward netting three of them for a superb hat-trick.

The Forward's Redemption and Influence

Hull displayed plenty of spirit throughout, but the clearer opportunities consistently fell Chelsea’s way. The winger ought to have opened the scoring when he rounded goalkeeper the Hull stopper before unbelievably firing over. The striker then had a comparable nightmare moment in front of goal against his old team.

He deflected a the goalkeeper's kick which came back from the crossbar, and he started to celebrate thinking the ball had crossed the line. It had not, 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 moment, but he was hugely influential from there on out, registering three assists. The first was for the opening goal as his through ball teed up his teammate to finish from outside the box. Shortly after the restart, it was 2-0 as Neto's corner went straight in under Phillips's legs.

Tie Put Beyond Doubt and Focus Turns

Seven minutes after the second goal, the tie was put beyond doubt as a magnificent dribble from the forward teed up Estêvão to slide into an empty net. Neto then finished his hat-trick as Delap again delivered the decisive pass for the attacker to coolly slot past a helpless Phillips.

At that point, the effort Hull had done in the opening half-hour had been erased. Their priority must now switch back to securing a promotion to the top division under Sergej Jakirovic, who rested a number of first-choice players with that goal in mind.

"I think we deserved at least one goal but if we perform like this we will be in a very good situation in the league," he said. "Keep fighting, maybe in the upcoming matches this can be a positive example of how we should play."

There was plenty of endeavour to the final whistle, and they almost got a late goal when a substitute struck a the upright in injury time. But this was the Blues' night, and another encouraging stride for their recently-appointed manager at a stadium he knows very well.

FA Cup History Are Good

That made for an ultimately routine night's performance, and the FA Cup-shaped omens are positive from here for the winners. They have played Hull on three other occasions in this tournament in the last decade and every single time, they have gone on to make the showpiece. There is still done in that regard, but this was another huge positive for the Chelsea boss.