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Amid freezing rain, flurries, and a swirling breeze from the banks of the Humber, combined with a resolute home side pushing hard for promotion, this presented all the makings of a difficult evening’s work for Chelsea.

"We could have scored more but the opposition are a good team and it was a tough tie; I’m very pleased with the display," he said. "This club means a lot to me so it was nice to get a good reception from both sets of supporters. The attitude of the players was excellent."

The Chelsea manager holds this city close to his heart, considering part of his family are from Hull and his enjoyable period in charge of the Championship club. His positive association continued with a magnificent performance from his team, who in the end strolled into the fifth round of the famous old competition.

Deadly Finishing Secures Comprehensive Victory

Three days removed from letting slip a two-goal lead in the Premier League, there was a sniff of fragility about Chelsea going into this intriguing cup clash. The packed Hull crowd clearly sensed it too, but the London side navigated the challenge perfectly.

Rosenior made alterations, making seven of them to his starting lineup. The match might and maybe ought to have been settled earlier than it eventually was, with both the Brazilian winger and the forward at fault for spurning excellent opportunities to put their side ahead in the first half.

However, luckily for the visitors, Pedro Neto was in a much more ruthless mood. He opened the scoring with a spectacular long-range effort, which acted as the catalyst for his team to take control of the match. By the final whistle, they had four, with the forward scoring a trio of them for a superb hat-trick.

The Forward's Redemption and Influence

The home side showed great fight all game, but the clearer opportunities consistently came to the visitors. Estêvão ought to have broken the scoring when he went past keeper the Hull stopper before inexplicably firing over. The striker then had a similar horror incident in front of goal against his former club.

He blocked a the goalkeeper's kick which bounced 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 responded to clear the danger.

The player had his head in his hands after that miss, but he was immensely influential from there on out, providing three assists. The opening was for the opening goal as his through ball set up Neto to finish from range. Shortly after the restart, it was two as Neto's corner went straight in through the keeper's legs.

Contest Sealed and Attention Shifts

Soon after the second, the tie was effectively ended as a dazzling dribble from the forward laid on Estêvão to slide into an empty net. Neto then completed his hat-trick as the provider again played the decisive pass for the striker to coolly convert by a helpless goalkeeper.

By that stage, the effort Hull had put in in the opening thirty minutes had been erased. Their focus must now switch back to securing a promotion to the top division under Sergej Jakirovic, who left out several key individuals with that goal in mind.

"I think we earned at least one goal but if we play like this we will be in a very good situation in the Championship," he said. "Keep fighting, maybe in the next games this can be a positive example of how we must play."

Hull showed great effort to the final whistle, and they nearly claimed a late goal when a substitute hit a the upright in injury time. But this was Chelsea’s night, and another positive stride for their recently-appointed manager at a stadium he is familiar with intimately.

Cup Omens Are Promising

That resulted in an in the end routine night's work, and the FA Cup-shaped signs are good from here for the winners. They have faced Hull on three other 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 huge positive for Rosenior.