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Amid freezing rain, flurries, and a biting wind from the banks of the Humber Estuary, combined with a determined Hull City side pushing hard for promotion, this presented all the ingredients of a difficult night's work for the visitors.

"We might have added to our tally but the opposition are a strong team and it was a difficult tie; I am very pleased with the display," he said. "Hull City is very special to me so it was nice to get a good welcome from the fans of supporters. The attitude of the players was excellent."

The Rosenior holds this place close to his heart, given part of his family hail from Hull and his successful period in charge of the Championship club. This happy connection continued with a magnificent display from his team, who ultimately sauntered into the fifth round of the famous old competition.

Deadly Edge Seals Comfortable Win

Seventy-two hours removed from surrendering a two-goal advantage in the Premier League, there was a sniff of vulnerability about them going into this potentially tricky cup clash. The capacity home crowd evidently felt it too, but the London side handled the challenge perfectly.

Rosenior made alterations, enacting seven of them to his starting lineup. The match might and maybe should have been decided long before it actually was, with two the Brazilian winger and Liam Delap at fault for spurning excellent chances to put Chelsea in front in the first half.

But, fortunately for the away team, their Portuguese attacker was in a much more clinical mood. He broke the deadlock with a spectacular long-range strike, which proved to be the catalyst for Chelsea to assume control of the match. By the final whistle, they had 4 goals, with Neto scoring a trio of them for a brilliant hat-trick.

The Forward's Redemption and Influence

The home side showed great spirit throughout, but the clearer chances always fell to the visitors. Estêvão ought to have opened the deadlock when he went past keeper Dillon Phillips before inexplicably shooting over. The striker then had a similar horror moment in front of goal against his former club.

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

The player had his head in his hands after that moment, but he was hugely influential from there on out, registering 3 assists. The first was for the first goal as his pass teed up his teammate to finish from outside the box. Six minutes after the restart, it was 2-0 as the forward's corner went directly in through the keeper's legs.

Contest Put Beyond Doubt and Focus Turns

Seven minutes after Neto’s second, the match was put beyond doubt as a magnificent run from Delap laid on his teammate to slide into an unguarded goal. Neto then finished his treble as the provider once again delivered the decisive pass for the striker to coolly slot past a helpless goalkeeper.

At that point, the work Hull had done in the first thirty minutes had been forgotten. Their focus must now return to achieving a promotion to the Premier League under their manager, who left out a number of first-choice players with that goal in mind.

"In my opinion we deserved at least one goal but if we perform like this we will be in a very good position in the Championship," he said. "Never surrender, maybe in the upcoming games this can be a positive example of how we should play."

Hull showed plenty of endeavour to the end, and they almost claimed a consolation when a substitute struck a post in stoppage time. But this was the Blues' evening, and another encouraging stride for their recently-appointed head coach at a place he is familiar with intimately.

FA Cup Omens Are Good

That made for an ultimately routine night's work, and the cup competition signs are positive from here for Chelsea. They have faced Hull on three other times in this competition in the past ten years and every single time, they have gone on to make the final. Much still done in that respect, but this was another significant positive for Rosenior.