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Against a backdrop of freezing rain, snow, and a biting breeze off the banks of the Humber, alongside a determined Hull City side fighting for a top-flight place, this presented all the ingredients of a challenging night's task for the visitors.

"We might have scored more but the opposition are a good team and it was a tough fixture; I’m delighted with the display," the manager stated. "This club means a lot to me so it was great to get a good reception from both sets of fans. The application of the players was excellent."

The Rosenior has this place dear to him, given some of his family hail from Hull and his successful period in management of the Championship club. This positive association continued with a commanding display from his squad, who ultimately sauntered into the next round of the FA Cup.

Clinical Finishing Seals Comprehensive Win

Three days removed from surrendering a 2-0 advantage in the league, there was a hint of vulnerability about them going into this potentially tricky tie. The capacity Hull crowd evidently felt it too, but Rosenior's men navigated the challenge with ease.

Rosenior made alterations, enacting seven of them to his starting lineup. The tie might and perhaps should have been settled long before it eventually was, with both Estêvão Willian and Liam Delap at fault for missing excellent opportunities to put their side ahead in the first half.

But, luckily for the away team, their Portuguese attacker was in a much more clinical frame of mind. He opened the scoring with a spectacular long-range effort, which proved to be the spark for Chelsea to assume control of proceedings. 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

Hull showed plenty of spirit throughout, but the better opportunities always fell Chelsea’s way. Estêvão ought to have broken the deadlock when he went past goalkeeper the Hull stopper before inexplicably shooting over. Delap then had a similar horror moment in front of goal against his old team.

He deflected a the goalkeeper's clearance which bounced off the crossbar, and he started to celebrate thinking the ball had gone over the line. It had not, and by the time he understood, Hull's backline had reacted to avert the danger.

The player had his head in his hands after that moment, but he was hugely instrumental from that point onward, providing three key passes. The first was for the first goal as his through ball teed up Neto to score from outside the box. Shortly after the restart, it was two as Neto's corner went directly in through Phillips's legs.

Tie Put Beyond Doubt and Attention Shifts

Soon after Neto’s second, the match was put beyond doubt as a magnificent dribble from the forward laid on Estêvão to tap into an unguarded goal. Neto then finished his hat-trick as the provider again played the decisive ball for the striker to calmly convert past a helpless Phillips.

At that point, the effort Hull had done in the first half-hour had long since forgotten. Their focus must now switch back to achieving a return to the top division under Sergej Jakirovic, who rested several key individuals with that aim in mind.

"I think we deserved at least one goal but if we perform like this we will be in a very good situation in the league," he said. "Keep fighting, maybe in the next games this can be a good lesson of how we should play."

There was great endeavour to the final whistle, and they almost claimed a late goal when Lewis Koumas struck a the upright in stoppage time. But this was the Blues' night, and another encouraging stride for their recently-appointed manager at a place he is familiar with intimately.

Cup History Are Promising

That made for an ultimately straightforward evening’s work, and the FA Cup-shaped signs are good from here for Chelsea. They have faced Hull on three previous occasions in this tournament in the last decade and every single time, they have progressed to reach the showpiece. There is still work in that respect, but this was another huge tick for Rosenior.