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Against a backdrop of sleet, flurries, and a swirling breeze off the waters of the Humber Estuary, alongside a determined Hull City side pushing hard for a top-flight place, this presented all the ingredients of a difficult night's work for Chelsea.

"We could have scored more 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 supporters. The attitude of the lads was superb."

The Chelsea manager has this city dear to him, given part of his relatives hail from Hull and his enjoyable period in management of the Championship club. His positive association was extended with a commanding display from his team, who ultimately sauntered into the fifth round of the FA Cup.

Clinical Finishing Secures Comprehensive Win

Three days removed from surrendering a two-goal advantage in the Premier League, there was a sniff of vulnerability about them going into this intriguing cup clash. The packed home crowd evidently sensed it too, but the London side handled the task perfectly.

The manager made alterations, making seven of them to his XI. The match might and maybe should have been decided long before it eventually was, with two the Brazilian winger and Liam Delap at fault for missing excellent opportunities to put their side ahead in the opening period.

However, luckily for the away team, Pedro Neto was in a much more ruthless frame of mind. He broke the scoring with a spectacular distance strike, which proved to be the spark for Chelsea to take control of the match. By full time, they had 4 goals, with Neto scoring three of them for a brilliant three-goal haul.

Delap's Response and Influence

Hull showed great spirit all game, but the clearer chances always came Chelsea’s way. Estêvão ought to have broken the scoring when he rounded goalkeeper the Hull stopper before inexplicably firing over. Delap then had a comparable nightmare moment in front of goal against his former club.

He deflected a Phillips's kick which bounced off the crossbar, and Delap began to celebrate believing the ball had gone over the line. It had not, and by the time he understood, Hull's defenders had responded to clear the threat.

The player had his head in his hands after that miss, but he was hugely influential from there on out, registering three key passes. The first was for the opening goal as his through ball teed up Neto to score from outside the box. Shortly after the second half began, it was 2-0 as Neto's corner went straight in under Phillips's legs.

Tie Put Beyond Doubt and Focus Shifts

Soon after Neto’s second goal, the match was put beyond doubt as a dazzling dribble from Delap laid on his teammate to slide into an empty net. Neto then finished his treble as the provider again played the decisive pass for the striker to calmly convert by a stranded Phillips.

At that point, the work Hull had put in in the first thirty minutes had been forgotten. Their focus must now switch back to securing a return to the Premier League under Sergej Jakirovic, who rested a number of first-choice 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 strong position in the Championship," the Hull manager commented. "Keep fighting, maybe in the upcoming matches this can be a good lesson of how we must play."

There was great endeavour to the end, and they nearly got a consolation when a substitute hit a post in injury time. But this was Chelsea’s evening, and another encouraging step forward for their recently-appointed head coach at a place he is familiar with very well.

FA Cup History Are Promising

That made for an in the end straightforward night's work, and the FA Cup-shaped omens are good from here for Chelsea. They have played Hull on three previous times in this tournament in the last decade and every single time, they have gone on to reach the showpiece. Much remains to be done in that respect, but this was another huge positive for Rosenior.