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Against a backdrop of sleet, flurries, and a biting wind off the banks of the Humber Estuary, alongside a resolute Hull City side fighting for a top-flight place, this had all the makings of a difficult evening’s work for Chelsea.

"We could have scored more but the opposition are a strong team and it was a tough tie; I am very pleased with the performance," he said. "Hull City is very special to me so it was great to get a positive welcome from the fans of supporters. The attitude of the players was superb."

Liam Chelsea manager has this place dear to him, given part of his family hail from Hull and his successful period in charge of the Tigers. This positive connection was extended with a magnificent display from his team, who ultimately strolled into the fifth round of the FA Cup.

Clinical Finishing Secures Comfortable Win

Three days after surrendering a 2-0 advantage in the league, there was a sniff of fragility about Chelsea going into this potentially tricky cup clash. The packed home support clearly sensed it too, but Rosenior's men handled the challenge perfectly.

The manager rang the changes, enacting seven of them to his XI. The match might and maybe should have been settled earlier than it actually was, with two Estêvão Willian and Liam Delap guilty of spurning excellent chances to put Chelsea ahead in the first half.

However, luckily for the visitors, their Portuguese attacker was in a far more ruthless mood. He broke the deadlock with a spectacular distance strike, which acted as the spark for Chelsea to assume control of the match. By full time, they had 4 goals, with the forward scoring a trio of them for a brilliant three-goal haul.

The Forward's Response and Influence

Hull showed great fight throughout, but the better chances consistently fell to the visitors. Estêvão should have broken the deadlock when he went past goalkeeper Dillon Phillips before inexplicably shooting over. Delap then had a comparable horror moment in front of goal against his old team.

He deflected a Phillips's kick which bounced off the bar, and he started to celebrate believing the ball had gone over the line. It had not, and by the time he understood, Hull's defenders had reacted to avert the danger.

Delap had his head in his hands after that moment, but he was immensely influential from there on out, providing three assists. The first was for the opening goal as his pass set up his teammate to score from range. Shortly after the restart, it was two as Neto's set-piece went directly in through the keeper's legs.

Contest Put Beyond Doubt and Focus Turns

Soon after the second goal, the match was effectively ended as a dazzling dribble from the forward teed up Estêvão to slide into an empty net. The hat-trick hero then completed his hat-trick as the provider again delivered the decisive pass for the striker to calmly convert past a stranded Phillips.

By that stage, the effort Hull had done in the first thirty minutes had long since forgotten. Their focus must now switch back to achieving a return to the top division under their manager, who left out several first-choice players with that goal in mind.

"In my opinion we deserved at least one goal but if we play like this we will be in a strong position in the Championship," the Hull manager commented. "Never surrender, maybe in the upcoming matches this can be a positive lesson of how we must play."

There was great effort to the final whistle, and they almost got a late goal when Lewis Koumas struck a post in injury time. But this was the Blues' evening, and another encouraging step forward for their new head coach at a place he is familiar with very well.

Cup Omens Look Promising

The result resulted in an in the end routine night's work, and the cup competition signs are positive from here for the winners. They have played Hull on three other times in this tournament in the past ten years and on each occasion, they have progressed to make the showpiece. Much remains to be work in that regard, but this was another significant positive for Rosenior.