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Amid freezing rain, flurries, and a swirling breeze off the waters of the Humber, combined with a determined home side pushing hard for a top-flight place, this presented all the makings of a difficult evening’s work for the visitors.

"We could have scored more but Hull are a good team and it was a difficult fixture; I’m very pleased with the display," the manager stated. "Hull City means a lot to me so it was great to get a good reception from the fans of fans. The attitude of the lads was excellent."

Liam Rosenior holds this place close to his heart, considering some of his family are from Hull and his successful period in charge of the Championship club. This happy association was extended with a commanding performance from his team, who in the end sauntered into the fifth round of the FA Cup.

Deadly Edge Secures Comprehensive Win

Seventy-two hours after letting slip a two-goal advantage in the Premier League, there was a sniff of vulnerability about Chelsea going into this intriguing tie. The packed home crowd clearly sensed it too, but Rosenior's men navigated the task perfectly.

The manager rang the changes, making multiple of them to his starting lineup. The tie might and perhaps should have been decided earlier than it actually was, with two the Brazilian winger and Liam Delap at fault for missing excellent opportunities to put their side in front in the first half.

But, fortunately for the visitors, Pedro Neto was in a far more ruthless frame of mind. He opened the deadlock with a spectacular 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 superb three-goal haul.

The Forward's Redemption and Influence

Hull displayed plenty of fight throughout, but the clearer opportunities consistently came Chelsea’s way. Estêvão ought to have opened the deadlock when he rounded goalkeeper the Hull stopper before unbelievably firing over. Delap then had a comparable nightmare incident in front of goal against his former club.

He blocked a Phillips's clearance which bounced back from the crossbar, and he began to run away thinking the ball had gone over the line. It hadn’t, and by the time he understood, Hull's defenders had responded to avert the danger.

Delap had his head in his hands after that moment, but he was immensely instrumental from that point onward, providing three key passes. The first was for the first goal as his pass set up his teammate to score from outside the box. Six minutes after the restart, it was two as the forward's set-piece went directly in under the keeper's legs.

Contest Put Beyond Doubt and Attention Shifts

Soon after the second, the match was effectively ended as a dazzling dribble from the forward teed up Estêvão to tap into an empty net. The hat-trick hero then completed his hat-trick as Delap once again played the crucial ball for the striker to coolly convert past a helpless Phillips.

By that stage, the effort Hull had done in the opening thirty minutes had been forgotten. Their priority must now return to securing a promotion to the Premier League under their manager, who rested a number of first-choice players with that goal in mind.

"In my opinion we earned at least one goal but if we perform like this we will be in a very good situation in the Championship," he said. "Keep fighting, maybe in the next games this can be a good example of how we should play."

Hull showed great endeavour to the end, and they nearly got a consolation when a substitute hit a post in stoppage time. But this was Chelsea’s night, and another encouraging step forward for their recently-appointed manager at a place he is familiar with very well.

Cup History Look Promising

That resulted in an in the end routine night's performance, and the cup competition omens are positive from here for Chelsea. They have played Hull on three other times in this competition in the last decade and every single time, they have progressed to make the showpiece. There is still done in that respect, but this was another huge positive for the Chelsea boss.