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Amid sleet, flurries, and a swirling wind from the banks of the Humber, alongside a determined Hull City side fighting for a top-flight place, this had all the makings of a difficult night's work 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 performance," the manager stated. "This club is very special to me so it was great to get a positive reception from both sets of fans. The attitude of the players was excellent."

The Rosenior has this place close to his heart, considering part of his relatives hail from Hull and his successful spell in management of the Tigers. His happy association continued with a commanding performance from his team, who in the end sauntered into the next round of the famous old competition.

Deadly Edge Seals Comprehensive Win

Seventy-two hours removed from surrendering a two-goal advantage in the Premier League, there was a sniff of vulnerability about Chelsea going into this potentially tricky cup clash. The packed home crowd clearly felt it too, but the London side handled the task perfectly.

The manager rang the changes, enacting seven of them to his starting lineup. The match could and perhaps should have been decided earlier than it eventually was, with both Estêvão Willian and Liam Delap at fault for missing excellent opportunities to put their side in front in the opening period.

But, luckily for the away team, Pedro Neto was in a much more ruthless frame of mind. He opened the scoring with a marvellous distance effort, which acted as the catalyst for Chelsea to take control of the match. By the final whistle, they had 4 goals, with the forward scoring a trio of them for a brilliant three-goal haul.

The Forward's Redemption and Impact

The home side displayed great fight all game, but the better chances consistently came Chelsea’s way. The winger ought to have broken the deadlock when he rounded goalkeeper Dillon Phillips before unbelievably firing over. The striker then had a similar nightmare incident in front of goal against his old team.

He blocked a Phillips's kick which bounced off the bar, and he began 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 moment, but he was immensely influential from there on out, registering 3 assists. The opening was for the opening goal as his pass set up Neto to finish from range. Shortly after the second half began, it was 2-0 as the forward's set-piece went straight in under Phillips's legs.

Contest Sealed and Focus Turns

Soon after Neto’s second goal, the match was effectively ended as a magnificent run from Delap laid on his teammate to tap into an unguarded goal. Neto then completed his hat-trick as the provider once again played the decisive ball for the attacker to calmly convert past a stranded goalkeeper.

At that point, the effort Hull had done in the opening thirty minutes had long since forgotten. Their priority must now return to achieving a promotion to the top division under Sergej Jakirovic, who left out a number of first-choice players with that aim in mind.

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

There was great effort to the end, and they almost claimed a consolation when Lewis Koumas struck a the upright in stoppage time. But this was Chelsea’s night, and another positive stride for their new manager at a stadium he is familiar with intimately.

FA Cup Omens Are Promising

That resulted in an ultimately straightforward evening’s performance, and the cup competition signs are good from here for Chelsea. They have played Hull on three other occasions in this competition in the past ten years and every single time, they have progressed to make the showpiece. Much still work in that respect, but this was another significant tick for Rosenior.