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Against a backdrop of sleet, snow, and a swirling wind off the banks of the Humber, alongside a determined Hull City side pushing hard for a top-flight place, this presented all the ingredients of a difficult evening’s work for Chelsea.

"We might have added to our tally but Hull are a strong team and it was a difficult fixture; I am very pleased with the display," the manager stated. "This club means a lot to me so it was nice to get a positive welcome from both sets of supporters. The application of the players was excellent."

Liam Chelsea manager has this city close to his heart, given some of his relatives are from Hull and his enjoyable period in management of the Tigers. His happy connection continued with a commanding performance from his squad, who ultimately strolled into the fifth round of the FA Cup.

Clinical Finishing Seals Comprehensive Victory

Seventy-two hours after letting slip a two-goal advantage in the Premier League, there was a sniff of vulnerability about them going into this intriguing cup clash. The packed Hull crowd clearly sensed it too, but Rosenior's men navigated the challenge with ease.

The manager rang the changes, enacting multiple of them to his XI. The tie could and maybe ought to have been settled long before it eventually was, with both Estêvão Willian and Liam Delap at fault for missing excellent chances to put their side ahead in the opening period.

But, luckily for the away team, their Portuguese attacker was in a far more clinical mood. He broke the scoring with a marvellous long-range effort, which acted as the spark for Chelsea to take command of the match. By the final whistle, they had four, with Neto netting a trio of them for a brilliant three-goal haul.

The Forward's Response and Impact

The home side displayed great fight throughout, but the better opportunities always came to the visitors. The winger should have broken the scoring when he went past keeper the Hull stopper before inexplicably shooting over. The striker then had a comparable horror moment in front of goal against his former club.

He blocked a Phillips's kick which came off the bar, and he started to celebrate thinking the ball had crossed the line. It had not, and by the time he understood, Hull's backline had responded to clear the danger.

Delap had his head in his hands after that miss, but he was immensely influential from there on out, registering three key passes. The opening was for the first goal as his pass set up Neto to finish from range. Shortly after the restart, it was 2-0 as the forward's corner went straight in under Phillips's legs.

Contest Sealed and Attention Turns

Seven minutes after Neto’s second, the match was put beyond doubt as a magnificent dribble from the forward laid on Estêvão to slide into an unguarded goal. The hat-trick hero then completed his treble as Delap again delivered the decisive pass for the attacker to coolly convert past a helpless goalkeeper.

By that stage, the work Hull had done in the opening thirty minutes had been forgotten. Their focus must now return to achieving a promotion to the top division under their manager, who rested several first-choice players with that aim 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. "Keep fighting, maybe in the next games this can be a positive lesson of how we should play."

There was plenty of effort to the final whistle, and they nearly got a late goal when a substitute hit a the upright in stoppage time. But this was the Blues' evening, and another positive stride for their recently-appointed head coach at a stadium he knows intimately.

FA Cup History Are Promising

The result made for an in the end routine evening’s work, and the cup competition omens are positive from here for Chelsea. They have faced Hull on three other occasions in this tournament in the past ten years and on each occasion, they have progressed to reach the final. Much still done in that respect, but this was another huge positive for Rosenior.