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Amid freezing rain, flurries, and a biting breeze from the waters of the Humber Estuary, combined with a resolute Hull City side fighting for promotion, this had all the makings of a difficult night's task for the visitors.

"We could have added to our tally but the opposition are a strong team and it was a tough tie; I am very pleased with the display," he said. "Hull City is very special to me so it was great to get a positive welcome from both sets of fans. The attitude of the lads was excellent."

Liam Rosenior has this city dear to him, given part of his relatives hail from Hull and his enjoyable period in management of the Tigers. His happy association continued with a commanding display from his team, who in the end strolled into the fifth round of the famous old competition.

Deadly Finishing Secures Comprehensive Win

Three days after surrendering a two-goal lead in the league, there was a hint of fragility about Chelsea going into this potentially tricky tie. The packed home crowd clearly sensed it too, but the London side navigated the challenge with ease.

Rosenior made alterations, enacting multiple of them to his starting lineup. The match could and perhaps should have been settled long before it actually was, with two Estêvão Willian and Liam Delap at fault for spurning excellent opportunities to put their side ahead in the opening period.

But, luckily for the away team, Pedro Neto was in a much more clinical mood. He opened the deadlock with a spectacular distance strike, which proved to be the spark for Chelsea to take command of proceedings. By full time, they had four, with Neto netting a trio of them for a superb hat-trick.

The Forward's Response and Impact

Hull showed great spirit all game, but the clearer opportunities always came to the visitors. The winger ought to have opened the scoring when he rounded keeper the Hull stopper before inexplicably shooting over. The striker then had a similar nightmare incident in front of goal against his old team.

He deflected a the goalkeeper's kick which bounced back from the bar, and Delap began to run away thinking the ball had crossed the line. It had not, and by the time he realised, Hull's defenders had responded to clear the threat.

The player had his head in his hands after that miss, but he was hugely instrumental from that point onward, registering three key passes. The opening was for the opening goal as his pass set up Neto to finish from outside the box. Six minutes after the restart, it was two as Neto's set-piece went straight in through the keeper's legs.

Tie Put Beyond Doubt and Focus Turns

Seven minutes after the second goal, the tie was effectively ended as a dazzling dribble from the forward teed up Estêvão to slide into an unguarded goal. The hat-trick hero then finished his hat-trick as Delap again played the decisive pass for the striker to coolly convert past a helpless goalkeeper.

At that point, the effort Hull had put in in the first half-hour had been erased. Their priority must now switch back to achieving a return to the Premier League under their manager, who left out a number of key players with that aim in mind.

"In my opinion we earned 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. "Never surrender, maybe in the upcoming matches this can be a good lesson of how we must play."

There was plenty of effort to the end, and they nearly claimed a consolation when Lewis Koumas struck a post in injury time. But this was Chelsea’s evening, and another positive stride for their recently-appointed head coach at a place he is familiar with intimately.

Cup History Are Good

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