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Amid sleet, snow, and a swirling wind off the waters of the Humber Estuary, combined with a determined Hull City side pushing hard for a top-flight place, this had all the ingredients of a challenging night's task for the visitors.

"We might have scored more but the opposition are a strong team and it was a difficult fixture; I’m very pleased with the display," he said. "Hull City is very special to me so it was nice to get a good reception from the fans of supporters. The application of the lads was excellent."

Liam Chelsea manager has this place close to his heart, given part of his relatives are from Hull and his enjoyable period in management of the Championship club. His happy association was extended with a magnificent display from his squad, who ultimately strolled into the fifth round of the FA Cup.

Deadly Finishing Seals Comprehensive Victory

Three days removed from letting slip a 2-0 lead in the league, there was a hint of vulnerability about them going into this intriguing cup clash. The packed Hull support evidently sensed it too, but Rosenior's men navigated the task perfectly.

The manager made alterations, making multiple of them to his starting lineup. The match could and perhaps should have been settled long before it eventually was, with both Estêvão Willian and Liam Delap at fault for spurning glorious chances to put their side in front in the opening period.

But, fortunately for the visitors, their Portuguese attacker was in a far more clinical frame of mind. He broke the deadlock with a marvellous long-range strike, which acted as the spark for Chelsea to take control of the match. By the final whistle, they had four, with the forward netting a trio of them for a superb three-goal haul.

The Forward's Redemption and Impact

Hull displayed great fight all game, but the clearer chances always fell to the visitors. Estêvão should have opened the deadlock when he went past keeper the Hull stopper before inexplicably firing over. The striker then had a similar horror moment in front of goal against his former club.

He blocked a the goalkeeper's kick which bounced off the crossbar, and he started to run away thinking the ball had crossed the line. It had not, and by the time he realised, Hull's backline had reacted to avert the danger.

Delap had his head in his hands after that miss, but he was hugely instrumental from that point onward, registering 3 key passes. The first was for the opening goal as his through ball set up his teammate to finish from range. Six minutes after the second half began, it was 2-0 as the forward's corner went straight in through Phillips's legs.

Tie Put Beyond Doubt and Attention Shifts

Seven minutes after Neto’s second goal, the match was effectively ended as a magnificent run from the forward laid on his teammate to tap into an unguarded goal. Neto then completed his hat-trick as the provider once again played the decisive pass for the striker to coolly convert past a stranded Phillips.

At that point, the effort Hull had done in the first thirty minutes had long since erased. Their priority must now switch back to achieving a promotion to the top division under Sergej Jakirovic, who left out several key individuals with that goal in mind.

"In my opinion we earned at least one goal but if we play like this we will be in a very good situation in the Championship," the Hull manager commented. "Never surrender, maybe in the upcoming matches this can be a positive lesson of how we must play."

Hull showed plenty of effort to the end, and they almost got a late goal when a substitute hit a post in injury time. But this was the Blues' night, and another positive step forward for their new manager at a stadium he is familiar with intimately.

FA Cup History Look Good

The result made for an ultimately straightforward evening’s performance, and the cup competition signs are positive from here for the winners. They have faced Hull on three previous occasions in this competition in the past ten years and every single time, they have progressed to reach the showpiece. Much remains to be done in that regard, but this was another significant positive for Rosenior.