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Against a backdrop of freezing rain, flurries, and a swirling breeze from the banks of the Humber, alongside a determined Hull City side pushing hard for a top-flight place, 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," he said. "Hull City is very special to me so it was nice to get a good welcome from both sets of supporters. The application of the lads was excellent."

Liam Chelsea manager has this city dear to him, given some of his family are from Hull and his enjoyable period in management of the Championship club. His positive association continued with a magnificent performance from his team, who in the end sauntered into the fifth round of the famous old competition.

Clinical Finishing Secures Comprehensive Win

Seventy-two hours after surrendering a two-goal advantage in the Premier League, there was a hint of fragility about them going into this intriguing cup clash. The capacity Hull support clearly sensed it too, but the London side handled the task perfectly.

Rosenior made alterations, making seven of them to his starting lineup. The match could and maybe ought to have been decided long before it eventually was, with two Estêvão Willian and Liam Delap at fault for spurning excellent opportunities to put their side in front in the opening period.

But, luckily for the away team, their Portuguese attacker was in a far more ruthless frame of mind. He broke the deadlock with a spectacular long-range effort, which acted as the catalyst for Chelsea to assume command of proceedings. By the final whistle, they had four, with the forward netting three of them for a superb hat-trick.

The Forward's Redemption and Influence

Hull displayed great fight all game, but the better chances always fell Chelsea’s way. The winger ought to have opened the deadlock when he went past keeper Dillon Phillips before unbelievably shooting over. Delap then had a similar horror moment in front of goal against his former club.

He deflected a the goalkeeper's kick which bounced back from the crossbar, and Delap began to run away believing the ball had crossed the line. It had not, and by the time he realised, Hull's defenders had responded to avert the threat.

Delap had his head in his hands after that miss, but he was immensely influential from that point onward, providing three key passes. The opening was for the first goal as his through ball set up Neto to score from outside the box. Six minutes after the restart, it was two as Neto's corner went directly in under the keeper's legs.

Tie Put Beyond Doubt and Attention Turns

Seven minutes after Neto’s second, the tie was effectively ended as a magnificent run from the forward teed up his teammate to tap into an empty net. Neto then completed his treble as the provider again delivered the decisive pass for the striker to calmly slot past a stranded goalkeeper.

At that point, the work Hull had put in in the first half-hour had long since erased. Their focus must now switch back to securing a return to the Premier League under Sergej Jakirovic, who left out a number of key individuals with that aim in mind.

"In my opinion we deserved at least one goal but if we play like this we will be in a very good situation in the Championship," he said. "Keep fighting, maybe in the upcoming matches this can be a good example of how we must play."

Hull showed plenty of endeavour to the end, and they nearly got a consolation when Lewis Koumas struck a post in stoppage time. But this was the Blues' evening, and another encouraging stride for their new manager at a place he knows very well.

Cup Omens Look Promising

The result resulted in an ultimately routine evening’s performance, and the cup competition signs are positive from here for Chelsea. They have faced Hull on three other occasions in this competition in the last decade and on each occasion, they have progressed to make the showpiece. There is still done in that respect, but this was another huge tick for Rosenior.