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Against a backdrop of sleet, snow, and a swirling wind from the waters of the Humber, combined with a determined Hull City side fighting for promotion, this presented all the makings of a challenging night's work for Chelsea.

"We might have added to our tally but Hull are a good team and it was a tough fixture; I’m delighted with the performance," he said. "This club means a lot to me so it was nice to get a good reception from the fans of fans. The attitude of the players was superb."

The Rosenior has this place dear to him, given some of his relatives are from Hull and his enjoyable spell in management of the Championship club. This happy association continued with a commanding display from his squad, who ultimately strolled into the fifth round of the famous old competition.

Clinical Edge Seals Comprehensive Win

Seventy-two hours after surrendering a two-goal lead in the league, there was a hint of fragility about Chelsea going into this intriguing tie. The packed Hull support clearly felt it too, but Rosenior's men navigated the challenge with ease.

The manager made alterations, enacting seven of them to his XI. The tie might and perhaps should have been decided long before it eventually was, with two Estêvão Willian and Liam Delap guilty of spurning glorious opportunities to put their side in front in the opening period.

But, fortunately for the visitors, their Portuguese attacker was in a far more ruthless mood. He broke the scoring with a spectacular long-range strike, which acted as the catalyst for his team to assume control of proceedings. By full time, they had 4 goals, with the forward netting a trio of them for a superb hat-trick.

The Forward's Response and Impact

The home side displayed great spirit throughout, but the better chances always fell to the visitors. Estêvão should have opened the deadlock when he went past goalkeeper Dillon Phillips before inexplicably firing over. The striker then had a similar horror moment in front of goal against his old team.

He blocked a the goalkeeper's kick which bounced back from the bar, and Delap started to celebrate believing the ball had gone over the line. It hadn’t, and by the time he realised, Hull's backline had responded to avert the threat.

The player had his head in his hands after that moment, but he was immensely influential from that point onward, registering 3 assists. The first was for the opening goal as his pass set up his teammate to score from range. Shortly after the second half began, it was two as Neto's set-piece went straight in under the keeper's legs.

Contest Sealed and Focus Turns

Soon after Neto’s second goal, the tie was put beyond doubt as a magnificent run from Delap laid on his teammate to slide into an empty net. The hat-trick hero then completed his hat-trick as Delap once again delivered the decisive ball for the striker to coolly slot by a stranded goalkeeper.

By that stage, the effort Hull had put in in the first half-hour had been erased. Their focus must now switch back to securing a promotion to the Premier League under Sergej Jakirovic, who rested several key individuals with that goal in mind.

"I think we deserved at least one goal but if we perform like this we will be in a strong position in the Championship," he said. "Never surrender, maybe in the upcoming matches this can be a positive lesson of how we should play."

Hull showed plenty of endeavour to the end, and they nearly claimed 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 recently-appointed manager at a place he is familiar with very well.

Cup History Are Good

The result resulted in an ultimately straightforward evening’s performance, and the FA Cup-shaped signs are good from here for the winners. They have faced Hull on three previous times in this competition in the past ten years and every single time, they have progressed to make the final. There is remains to be done in that respect, but this was another significant tick for Rosenior.