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Amid freezing rain, flurries, and a biting breeze from the waters of the Humber Estuary, alongside a resolute Hull City side pushing hard for promotion, this had all the ingredients of a challenging night's work for the visitors.

"We might have added to our tally but Hull are a strong team and it was a difficult fixture; I’m delighted with the performance," the manager stated. "Hull City is very special to me so it was nice to get a positive welcome from both sets of supporters. The attitude of the lads was superb."

Liam Rosenior holds this city close to his heart, given some of his family are from Hull and his successful period in charge of the Championship club. His happy connection was extended with a commanding display from his squad, who in the end strolled into the fifth round of the FA Cup.

Deadly Edge Secures Comprehensive Victory

Seventy-two hours removed from surrendering a 2-0 advantage in the league, there was a hint of fragility about Chelsea going into this intriguing tie. The packed home support evidently felt it too, but Rosenior's men handled the challenge perfectly.

The manager rang the changes, enacting multiple of them to his XI. The tie could and maybe ought to have been settled earlier than it eventually was, with two the Brazilian winger and the forward at fault for spurning excellent chances to put their side in front in the first half.

But, luckily for the visitors, their Portuguese attacker was in a far more ruthless mood. He opened the deadlock with a spectacular distance effort, which acted as the spark for his team to take command of the match. By the final whistle, they had 4 goals, with Neto netting three of them for a brilliant hat-trick.

The Forward's Response and Impact

Hull displayed plenty of fight all game, but the better chances consistently came to the visitors. Estêvão ought to have opened the scoring when he rounded keeper the Hull stopper before inexplicably shooting over. Delap then had a comparable nightmare moment in front of goal against his former club.

He blocked a the goalkeeper's kick which bounced off the bar, and he started to run away thinking the ball had crossed the line. It had not, and by the time he understood, Hull's backline had reacted to clear the threat.

The player had his head in his hands after that miss, but he was immensely influential from that point onward, providing 3 assists. The opening was for the opening goal as his through ball teed up Neto to finish from outside the box. Six minutes after the restart, it was two as the forward's set-piece went directly in through Phillips's legs.

Tie Sealed and Attention Shifts

Soon after the second goal, the match was put beyond doubt as a dazzling dribble from the forward teed up his teammate to slide into an empty net. The hat-trick hero then finished his treble as the provider once again played the crucial ball for the striker to calmly convert by a helpless Phillips.

At that point, the work Hull had put in in the first thirty minutes had long since forgotten. Their focus must now switch back to securing a return to the top division under their manager, who rested a number of 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 very good position in the league," he said. "Never surrender, maybe in the upcoming games this can be a good example of how we must play."

There was great effort to the final whistle, and they almost claimed a consolation when Lewis Koumas hit a post in injury time. But this was the Blues' night, and another positive stride for their new head coach at a place he knows very well.

Cup History Look Promising

That made for an ultimately straightforward evening’s performance, and the FA Cup-shaped signs are positive from here for Chelsea. They have faced Hull on three previous occasions in this competition in the past ten years and every single time, they have progressed to make the final. Much still done in that regard, but this was another huge tick for Rosenior.