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Against a backdrop of freezing rain, flurries, and a biting breeze off the banks of the Humber Estuary, alongside a resolute Hull City side pushing hard for promotion, this presented all the ingredients of a challenging evening’s task for Chelsea.

"We might have added to our tally but the opposition are a good team and it was a tough fixture; I’m very pleased with the display," he said. "Hull City is very special to me so it was great to get a positive reception from the fans of supporters. The attitude of the lads was superb."

Liam Rosenior has this city close to his heart, given some of his relatives hail from Hull and his successful period in management of the Championship club. His happy connection continued with a magnificent display from his squad, who ultimately sauntered into the fifth round of the FA Cup.

Deadly Edge Seals Comfortable Victory

Seventy-two hours removed from surrendering a 2-0 lead in the Premier League, there was a sniff of fragility about them going into this intriguing cup clash. The capacity home support clearly sensed it too, but the London side handled the task perfectly.

The manager made alterations, enacting multiple of them to his XI. The match might and maybe ought to have been settled earlier than it eventually was, with two Estêvão Willian and Liam Delap at fault for missing excellent opportunities to put Chelsea ahead in the opening period.

However, fortunately for the visitors, Pedro Neto was in a much more clinical mood. He opened the deadlock with a marvellous long-range effort, which proved to be the spark for Chelsea to take command of proceedings. By full time, they had four, with the forward scoring three of them for a brilliant hat-trick.

The Forward's Response and Impact

Hull showed great fight all game, but the better chances always fell Chelsea’s way. Estêvão ought to have broken the deadlock when he went past goalkeeper Dillon Phillips before unbelievably firing over. Delap then had a similar nightmare moment in front of goal against his old team.

He deflected a the goalkeeper's kick which came off the crossbar, and he started to celebrate believing the ball had crossed the line. It hadn’t, and by the time he realised, Hull's defenders had responded to clear the danger.

Delap had his head in his hands after that miss, but he was hugely influential from that point onward, registering 3 key passes. The first was for the first goal as his pass teed up Neto to finish from range. Shortly after the restart, it was two as Neto's set-piece went straight in through Phillips's legs.

Contest Sealed and Focus Shifts

Soon after the second, the tie was put beyond doubt as a dazzling dribble from Delap teed up his teammate to tap into an empty net. Neto then finished his hat-trick as the provider again delivered the decisive pass for the striker to coolly convert by a helpless goalkeeper.

At that point, the work Hull had done in the first half-hour had been erased. Their focus must now return to securing a promotion to the top division under their manager, who left out a number of key players with that goal in mind.

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

Hull showed plenty of endeavour to the final whistle, and they almost claimed a consolation when a substitute hit a the upright in stoppage time. But this was the Blues' night, and another positive stride for their recently-appointed head coach at a stadium he is familiar with intimately.

FA Cup Omens Are Promising

That made for an ultimately routine evening’s work, and the FA Cup-shaped omens are positive 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 gone on to reach the final. There is still work in that respect, but this was another huge positive for the Chelsea boss.