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Against a backdrop of freezing rain, flurries, and a biting breeze from the waters of the Humber Estuary, combined with a resolute home side pushing hard for promotion, this presented all the makings of a challenging night's task for Chelsea.

"We might have added to our tally but the opposition are a strong team and it was a tough fixture; I’m delighted with the display," the manager stated. "This club is very special to me so it was nice to get a good reception from both sets of supporters. The application of the lads was superb."

Liam Rosenior holds this place dear to him, given part of his family hail from Hull and his successful spell in management of the Tigers. His positive association continued with a commanding performance from his team, who in the end sauntered into the fifth round of the FA Cup.

Clinical Edge Secures Comprehensive Win

Seventy-two hours removed from surrendering a 2-0 lead in the league, there was a hint of vulnerability about them going into this potentially tricky tie. The packed home crowd clearly felt it too, but the London side handled the challenge with ease.

The manager rang the changes, enacting seven of them to his starting lineup. The match could and perhaps should have been settled long before it eventually was, with two the Brazilian winger and Liam Delap at fault for spurning glorious opportunities to put Chelsea ahead in the opening period.

However, luckily for the away team, Pedro Neto was in a far more clinical mood. He broke the deadlock with a spectacular long-range effort, which acted as the catalyst for Chelsea to assume command of the match. By the final whistle, they had four, with Neto netting a trio of them for a brilliant hat-trick.

The Forward's Response and Influence

The home side showed plenty of fight throughout, but the better chances always fell to the visitors. The winger should have broken the scoring when he went past keeper the Hull stopper before unbelievably shooting over. Delap then had a comparable nightmare incident in front of goal against his old team.

He blocked a Phillips's clearance which came off the bar, and Delap began to celebrate thinking the ball had crossed the line. It had not, and by the time he realised, Hull's backline had reacted to avert the threat.

The player had his head in his hands after that miss, but he was immensely influential from that point onward, registering three assists. The first was for the opening goal as his through ball set up Neto to score from range. Six minutes after the restart, it was two as Neto's set-piece went directly in through the keeper's legs.

Tie Put Beyond Doubt and Attention Shifts

Soon after the second, the tie was effectively ended as a dazzling run from the forward teed up his teammate to slide into an empty net. Neto then finished his hat-trick as Delap once again delivered the decisive pass for the attacker to calmly convert by a stranded goalkeeper.

By that stage, the work Hull had done in the opening thirty minutes had been erased. Their priority must now switch back to achieving a promotion to the top division under their manager, who left out several key players with that aim 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 league," the Hull manager commented. "Never surrender, maybe in the upcoming games this can be a good example of how we must play."

Hull showed plenty of endeavour to the final whistle, and they nearly got a late goal when a substitute hit a post in stoppage time. But this was the Blues' evening, and another positive step forward for their recently-appointed head coach at a place he is familiar with intimately.

Cup Omens Are Good

That resulted in an in the end straightforward night's work, and the FA Cup-shaped signs are good from here for Chelsea. They have played Hull on three previous occasions in this competition in the past ten years and every single time, they have progressed to make the final. There is remains to be work in that respect, but this was another significant tick for the Chelsea boss.