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Against a backdrop of sleet, snow, and a biting wind from the waters of the Humber, alongside a resolute home side pushing hard for a top-flight place, this had all the ingredients of a challenging evening’s work for Chelsea.

"We could have scored more but the opposition are a strong team and it was a tough tie; I am delighted with the performance," the manager stated. "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 players was excellent."

Liam Rosenior has this city dear to him, considering some of his relatives hail from Hull and his enjoyable period in management 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 famous old competition.

Deadly Finishing Secures Comprehensive Victory

Seventy-two hours after surrendering a two-goal lead in the league, there was a sniff of fragility about Chelsea going into this intriguing cup clash. The capacity home crowd clearly felt it too, but the London side handled the challenge with ease.

The manager made alterations, making seven of them to his starting lineup. The tie could and maybe should have been decided earlier than it eventually was, with both Estêvão Willian and Liam Delap guilty of spurning excellent opportunities to put Chelsea in front in the opening period.

But, luckily for the away team, their Portuguese attacker was in a much more ruthless frame of mind. He opened the scoring with a spectacular long-range strike, which acted as the spark for Chelsea to assume command of the match. By the final whistle, they had four, with Neto netting three of them for a brilliant three-goal haul.

The Forward's Response and Influence

The home side displayed plenty of fight all game, but the better opportunities consistently fell Chelsea’s way. The winger should have broken the deadlock when he rounded keeper the Hull stopper before unbelievably firing over. The striker then had a similar nightmare moment in front of goal against his old team.

He deflected a Phillips's kick which bounced back from the crossbar, and he started to celebrate thinking the ball had crossed the line. It had not, and by the time he realised, Hull's backline had reacted to clear the threat.

The player had his head in his hands after that moment, but he was immensely instrumental from that point onward, providing three assists. The first was for the first goal as his through ball teed up Neto to finish from outside the box. Shortly after the second half began, it was two as Neto's set-piece went directly in under the keeper's legs.

Contest Put Beyond Doubt and Attention Shifts

Soon after Neto’s second goal, the match was effectively ended as a dazzling run from Delap laid on Estêvão to slide into an unguarded goal. Neto then completed his hat-trick as Delap once again played the decisive ball for the attacker to coolly convert by a helpless Phillips.

At that point, the work Hull had done in the first half-hour had long since erased. Their focus must now return to securing a return to the Premier League under their manager, who rested a number of first-choice individuals with that aim in mind.

"In my opinion we deserved at least one goal but if we perform like this we will be in a very good position in the league," the Hull manager commented. "Keep fighting, maybe in the upcoming games this can be a good example of how we should play."

Hull showed plenty of effort to the end, and they nearly got a late goal when Lewis Koumas hit a post in stoppage time. But this was Chelsea’s evening, and another positive step forward for their new manager at a place he is familiar with intimately.

Cup Omens Are Promising

The result made for an in the end straightforward night's work, and the FA Cup-shaped signs are good from here for Chelsea. They have faced Hull on three other occasions in this competition in the past ten years and on each occasion, they have gone on to make the showpiece. Much still done in that regard, but this was another huge positive for Rosenior.