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Against a backdrop of freezing rain, snow, and a swirling breeze from the waters of the Humber Estuary, combined with a determined Hull City side fighting for promotion, this had all the ingredients of a difficult evening’s work for the visitors.

"We could have added to our tally but the opposition are a strong team and it was a tough fixture; I am delighted with the performance," the manager stated. "Hull City is very special to me so it was great to get a good reception from both sets of fans. The application of the lads was superb."

Liam Rosenior holds this city dear to him, considering part of his relatives hail from Hull and his successful spell in management of the Tigers. His happy connection was extended with a commanding performance from his squad, who in the end strolled into the fifth round of the FA Cup.

Clinical Finishing Secures Comfortable Victory

Three days after letting slip a 2-0 lead in the league, there was a hint of fragility about Chelsea going into this intriguing tie. The capacity Hull crowd clearly felt it too, but the London side navigated the challenge with ease.

The manager made alterations, enacting seven of them to his starting lineup. The match might and maybe should have been decided earlier than it eventually was, with two Estêvão Willian and the forward at fault for spurning glorious chances to put Chelsea ahead in the opening period.

However, luckily for the away team, their Portuguese attacker was in a much more ruthless mood. He broke the deadlock with a spectacular long-range strike, which acted as the catalyst for Chelsea to take control of the match. By full time, they had 4 goals, with the forward scoring a trio of them for a brilliant hat-trick.

The Forward's Redemption and Influence

The home side showed plenty of fight throughout, but the better chances always came to the visitors. Estêvão should have opened the deadlock when he rounded goalkeeper the Hull stopper before unbelievably shooting over. The striker then had a comparable nightmare moment in front of goal against his old team.

He blocked a Phillips's kick which bounced off the crossbar, and he started to run away believing the ball had gone over the line. It had not, and by the time he realised, Hull's backline had responded to clear the threat.

The player had his head in his hands after that moment, but he was hugely instrumental from that point onward, providing three key passes. The first was for the opening goal as his pass teed up his teammate to score from outside the box. Shortly after the second half began, it was 2-0 as the forward's corner went straight in through the keeper's legs.

Contest Sealed and Focus Turns

Seven minutes after Neto’s second goal, the tie was put beyond doubt as a dazzling dribble from Delap teed up Estêvão to slide into an unguarded goal. The hat-trick hero then completed his treble as the provider again played the decisive pass for the striker to coolly convert by a helpless Phillips.

At that point, the work Hull had done in the first half-hour had been forgotten. Their focus must now return to securing a promotion to the Premier League under Sergej Jakirovic, who left out several key players with that goal in mind.

"In my opinion we deserved at least one goal but if we play like this we will be in a strong situation in the league," the Hull manager commented. "Never surrender, maybe in the next games this can be a good lesson of how we must play."

Hull showed great effort to the end, and they almost claimed a late goal when a substitute hit a the upright in injury time. But this was Chelsea’s evening, and another positive step forward for their recently-appointed head coach at a place he knows intimately.

FA Cup Omens Look Promising

The result made for an in the end straightforward evening’s work, and the cup competition signs are positive from here for Chelsea. They have faced Hull on three other times in this competition 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 significant positive for the Chelsea boss.