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Amid sleet, snow, and a biting wind from the waters of the Humber, alongside a resolute home side pushing hard for a top-flight place, this presented all the ingredients of a difficult evening’s task for the visitors.

"We could have scored more but Hull are a strong team and it was a difficult fixture; I am delighted with the display," he said. "Hull City means a lot to me so it was nice to get a good reception from both sets of supporters. The application of the lads was superb."

The Rosenior has this place close to his heart, given part of his family hail from Hull and his successful spell in charge of the Tigers. This happy association was extended with a magnificent performance from his squad, who ultimately sauntered into the next round of the FA Cup.

Deadly Finishing Secures Comprehensive Victory

Three days removed from surrendering a two-goal advantage in the league, there was a sniff of vulnerability about Chelsea going into this intriguing cup clash. The packed Hull crowd clearly sensed it too, but the London side handled the task with ease.

Rosenior made alterations, making seven of them to his starting lineup. The match could and perhaps should have been settled earlier than it eventually was, with both the Brazilian winger and Liam Delap guilty of missing glorious chances to put Chelsea in front in the first half.

But, luckily for the visitors, their Portuguese attacker was in a far more ruthless frame of mind. He opened the scoring with a spectacular distance effort, which acted as the catalyst for Chelsea to assume control of proceedings. By full time, they had 4 goals, with Neto netting three of them for a brilliant hat-trick.

The Forward's Redemption and Influence

Hull displayed plenty of spirit throughout, but the clearer opportunities consistently came to the visitors. Estêvão ought to have broken the scoring when he rounded goalkeeper Dillon Phillips before unbelievably firing over. The striker then had a comparable nightmare moment in front of goal against his old team.

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

Delap had his head in his hands after that miss, but he was hugely influential from there on out, providing three key passes. The opening was for the first goal as his pass teed up Neto to score from range. Six minutes after the second half began, it was two as Neto's corner went directly in through Phillips's legs.

Tie Sealed and Focus Turns

Seven minutes after Neto’s second, the match 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 once again played the crucial ball for the striker to coolly slot by a stranded Phillips.

By that stage, the effort Hull had done in the opening thirty minutes had long since erased. Their focus must now return to achieving a return to the Premier League under their manager, who rested several first-choice individuals with that aim in mind.

"In my opinion we deserved at least one goal but if we perform like this we will be in a strong position in the league," he said. "Keep fighting, maybe in the upcoming games this can be a good lesson of how we should play."

Hull showed plenty of endeavour to the end, and they almost claimed a late goal when Lewis Koumas hit a the upright in injury time. But this was Chelsea’s night, and another positive stride for their recently-appointed manager at a place he is familiar with very well.

Cup History Are Good

That made for an in the end routine night's performance, and the FA Cup-shaped omens are positive from here for the winners. They have faced Hull on three previous times in this competition in the last decade and every single time, they have gone on to make the showpiece. Much remains to be done in that respect, but this was another significant positive for the Chelsea boss.