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Against a backdrop of freezing rain, snow, and a swirling breeze from the waters of the Humber, combined with a resolute home side fighting for a top-flight place, this presented all the ingredients of a difficult evening’s task for the visitors.

"We might have scored more but the opposition are a good team and it was a difficult tie; I’m very pleased with the performance," he said. "Hull City is very special to me so it was great to get a positive reception from both sets of supporters. The application of the lads was excellent."

The Rosenior has this place dear to him, given some of his family hail from Hull and his enjoyable period in charge of the Tigers. His happy association was extended with a commanding display from his team, who in the end strolled into the fifth round of the FA Cup.

Deadly Edge Seals Comprehensive Victory

Seventy-two hours removed from letting slip a two-goal advantage in the Premier League, there was a sniff of fragility about them going into this potentially tricky cup clash. The capacity Hull support clearly sensed it too, but Rosenior's men handled the challenge perfectly.

Rosenior rang the changes, enacting multiple of them to his starting lineup. The tie could and perhaps ought to have been settled earlier than it actually was, with both Estêvão Willian and the forward at fault for missing glorious chances to put their side in front in the first half.

But, fortunately for the visitors, Pedro Neto was in a far more clinical frame of mind. He opened the scoring with a spectacular distance strike, which acted as the catalyst for Chelsea to assume command of the match. By full time, they had four, with Neto scoring three of them for a brilliant three-goal haul.

The Forward's Response and Influence

The home side displayed plenty of spirit all game, but the better opportunities consistently fell to the visitors. The winger ought to have broken the deadlock when he went past goalkeeper Dillon Phillips before inexplicably shooting over. The striker then had a comparable nightmare incident in front of goal against his old team.

He blocked a Phillips's clearance which came off the crossbar, and he began to celebrate believing the ball had gone over the line. It hadn’t, and by the time he understood, Hull's backline had reacted to clear the threat.

The player had his head in his hands after that miss, but he was immensely instrumental from that point onward, providing three assists. The first was for the first goal as his through ball teed up Neto to finish from range. Six minutes after the restart, it was two as the forward's set-piece went directly in under Phillips's legs.

Tie Sealed and Attention Turns

Seven minutes after the second goal, the tie was put beyond doubt as a magnificent dribble from Delap laid on his teammate to slide into an empty net. Neto then finished his treble as Delap once again delivered the decisive pass for the attacker to coolly slot by a stranded goalkeeper.

At that point, the work Hull had put in in the first thirty minutes had long since forgotten. Their priority must now return to securing a promotion to the top division under their manager, who left out several key players with that goal in mind.

"In my opinion we earned at least one goal but if we perform like this we will be in a very good position in the Championship," the Hull manager commented. "Keep fighting, maybe in the next matches this can be a positive lesson of how we must play."

Hull showed great endeavour to the final whistle, and they nearly got a late goal when Lewis Koumas struck a the upright in injury time. But this was the Blues' night, and another positive stride for their new head coach at a stadium he is familiar with very well.

FA Cup History Are Good

The result resulted in an ultimately straightforward evening’s performance, and the cup competition signs are good from here for Chelsea. They have faced Hull on three previous times in this tournament in the past ten years and every single time, they have gone on to reach the final. Much remains to be work in that regard, but this was another significant positive for Rosenior.