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Amid sleet, flurries, and a swirling wind from the waters of the Humber, alongside a determined Hull City side fighting for promotion, this presented all the ingredients of a difficult night's task for Chelsea.

"We could have scored more but the opposition are a good team and it was a tough tie; I am very pleased with the performance," the manager stated. "Hull City is very special to me so it was great to get a good reception from both sets of supporters. The application of the players was excellent."

The Rosenior holds this place dear to him, considering part of his family are from Hull and his enjoyable period in management of the Championship club. His positive association was extended with a commanding performance from his team, who ultimately sauntered into the fifth round of the FA Cup.

Deadly Finishing Seals Comprehensive Victory

Seventy-two hours after letting slip a 2-0 advantage in the Premier League, there was a hint of fragility about Chelsea going into this potentially tricky tie. The capacity Hull crowd clearly felt it too, but the London side navigated the challenge perfectly.

The manager rang the changes, enacting multiple of them to his XI. The tie might and maybe should have been decided long before it eventually was, with both Estêvão Willian and Liam Delap guilty of spurning excellent opportunities to put Chelsea in front in the first half.

However, luckily for the away team, Pedro Neto was in a much more ruthless mood. He broke the scoring with a spectacular long-range strike, which acted as the spark for Chelsea to assume control of proceedings. By the final whistle, they had four, with Neto netting three of them for a brilliant hat-trick.

The Forward's Redemption and Impact

The home side displayed plenty of fight throughout, but the clearer chances consistently came to the visitors. The winger ought to have broken the scoring when he went past goalkeeper the Hull stopper before inexplicably shooting over. Delap then had a comparable horror moment in front of goal against his former club.

He deflected a the goalkeeper's kick which came off the bar, and he started to celebrate believing the ball had crossed the line. It had not, and by the time he understood, Hull's defenders had reacted to avert the threat.

The player had his head in his hands after that miss, but he was hugely influential from that point onward, providing three key passes. The opening was for the first goal as his pass set up Neto to finish from range. Shortly after the second half began, it was 2-0 as the forward's set-piece went directly in through Phillips's legs.

Contest Put Beyond Doubt and Attention Turns

Seven minutes after Neto’s second, the tie was effectively ended as a dazzling dribble from Delap teed up 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 helpless Phillips.

At that point, the work Hull had done in the opening thirty minutes had long since forgotten. Their priority must now switch back to achieving a promotion to the Premier League under Sergej Jakirovic, who rested a number of first-choice individuals with that aim 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 next games this can be a positive lesson of how we should play."

There was plenty of endeavour to the final whistle, and they nearly claimed a consolation when Lewis Koumas hit a post in injury time. But this was the Blues' night, and another positive stride for their recently-appointed manager at a place he knows intimately.

Cup Omens Are Good

The result made for an ultimately straightforward night's performance, and the cup competition omens are positive from here for the winners. They have played Hull on three previous times in this competition in the past ten years and on each occasion, they have progressed to reach the showpiece. Much still work in that respect, but this was another huge tick for the Chelsea boss.