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Against a backdrop of sleet, flurries, and a swirling breeze off the waters of the Humber, alongside a resolute Hull City side fighting for a top-flight place, this presented all the makings of a difficult night's task for Chelsea.

"We could have scored more but the opposition are a strong team and it was a tough fixture; I’m very pleased with the display," he said. "This club means a lot to me so it was nice to get a good welcome from both sets of supporters. The attitude of the players was excellent."

Liam Chelsea manager has this place close to his heart, considering some of his relatives are from Hull and his enjoyable spell in management of the Tigers. This happy association continued with a magnificent performance from his team, who in the end sauntered into the next round of the FA Cup.

Clinical Finishing Seals Comprehensive Victory

Three days after surrendering a two-goal advantage in the Premier League, there was a hint of fragility about them going into this potentially tricky cup clash. The packed Hull crowd clearly felt it too, but the London side handled the challenge with ease.

Rosenior rang the changes, making seven of them to his XI. The match could and maybe should have been decided earlier than it actually was, with both Estêvão Willian and the forward at fault for spurning excellent opportunities to put Chelsea in front in the opening period.

However, luckily for the away team, Pedro Neto was in a far more clinical mood. He opened the scoring with a marvellous distance strike, which proved to be the catalyst for his team to take command of the match. By full time, they had 4 goals, with the forward scoring three of them for a brilliant three-goal haul.

The Forward's Redemption and Impact

The home side showed great fight all game, but the clearer chances consistently came to the visitors. Estêvão ought to have opened the deadlock when he rounded keeper the Hull stopper before inexplicably shooting over. The striker then had a comparable nightmare incident in front of goal against his former club.

He blocked a Phillips's clearance which came back from the crossbar, and he started to run away thinking the ball had crossed the line. It had not, and by the time he understood, Hull's defenders had responded to avert the threat.

The player had his head in his hands after that miss, but he was immensely instrumental from that point onward, providing three key passes. The opening was for the opening goal as his pass set up Neto to finish from outside the box. Shortly after the second half began, it was two as the forward's corner went directly in under Phillips's legs.

Tie Sealed and Focus Turns

Soon after Neto’s second goal, the match was put beyond doubt as a magnificent run from the forward teed up his teammate to tap into an empty net. Neto then finished his hat-trick as the provider again delivered the crucial pass for the striker to coolly slot past a stranded goalkeeper.

By that stage, the effort Hull had put in in the first thirty minutes had been forgotten. Their focus must now return to achieving a promotion to the Premier League under Sergej Jakirovic, who left out several first-choice individuals with that goal in mind.

"In my opinion we earned 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 plenty of effort to the end, and they nearly claimed a consolation when Lewis Koumas hit a the upright in injury time. But this was Chelsea’s night, and another positive stride for their recently-appointed manager at a stadium he is familiar with very well.

FA Cup History Look Good

That resulted in an ultimately routine night's work, and the cup competition signs are good from here for the winners. They have faced Hull on three other times in this competition in the last decade and on each occasion, they have gone on to reach the showpiece. Much remains to be work in that regard, but this was another huge tick for Rosenior.