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Against a backdrop of sleet, flurries, and a biting wind off the banks of the Humber Estuary, alongside a resolute Hull City side fighting for a top-flight place, this presented all the makings of a difficult evening’s task for Chelsea.

"We could have scored more but the opposition are a good team and it was a tough fixture; 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."

Liam Rosenior has this city close to his heart, considering some of his family are from Hull and his successful period in management of the Championship club. This happy connection continued with a magnificent performance from his squad, who in the end strolled into the fifth round of the FA Cup.

Deadly Finishing Seals Comprehensive Victory

Three days removed from letting slip a two-goal lead in the league, there was a hint of vulnerability about Chelsea going into this potentially tricky tie. The capacity Hull crowd clearly sensed it too, but the London side navigated the challenge perfectly.

The manager made alterations, enacting multiple of them to his XI. The tie could and perhaps should have been settled earlier than it actually was, with both Estêvão Willian and Liam Delap at fault for missing excellent opportunities to put Chelsea in front in the opening period.

However, fortunately for the visitors, their Portuguese attacker was in a much more ruthless mood. He opened the scoring with a marvellous distance strike, which acted as the spark for his team to take control of proceedings. By the final whistle, they had 4 goals, with the forward scoring three of them for a superb three-goal haul.

The Forward's Redemption and Influence

The home side showed plenty of spirit throughout, but the clearer chances consistently came Chelsea’s way. Estêvão should have opened the scoring when he went past keeper Dillon Phillips before unbelievably firing over. Delap then had a comparable horror incident in front of goal against his old team.

He blocked a the goalkeeper's kick which came off the crossbar, and he started to run away thinking the ball had gone over the line. It hadn’t, and by the time he understood, Hull's backline had responded to clear the threat.

The player had his head in his hands after that miss, but he was hugely influential from that point onward, providing 3 key passes. The first was for the first goal as his pass set up Neto to score from range. Shortly after the second half began, it was two as the forward's corner went straight in under the keeper's legs.

Contest Put Beyond Doubt and Attention Shifts

Seven minutes after the second goal, the match was effectively ended as a magnificent run from the forward teed up his teammate to slide into an unguarded goal. Neto then finished his hat-trick as the provider again delivered the decisive ball for the attacker to calmly slot past a stranded goalkeeper.

By that stage, the effort Hull had done in the first thirty minutes had long since forgotten. Their priority must now switch back to achieving a promotion to the top division under their manager, who rested a number of key individuals with that goal in mind.

"I think we deserved at least one goal but if we play like this we will be in a strong situation in the Championship," the Hull manager commented. "Keep fighting, maybe in the next games this can be a good lesson of how we should play."

There was plenty of endeavour to the end, and they nearly got a late goal when Lewis Koumas struck a post in injury time. But this was Chelsea’s night, and another positive step forward for their recently-appointed manager at a place he is familiar with intimately.

Cup Omens Are Promising

The result resulted in an in the end routine night's work, and the cup competition signs are positive from here for the winners. They have played Hull on three other occasions in this competition in the past ten years and every single time, they have gone on to make the showpiece. There is remains to be done in that regard, but this was another significant positive for Rosenior.