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Amid freezing rain, flurries, and a swirling breeze off the banks of the Humber, combined with a determined home side fighting for a top-flight place, this presented all the ingredients of a difficult night's task for Chelsea.

"We could have added to our tally but the opposition are a good team and it was a tough fixture; I’m delighted with the performance," the manager stated. "Hull City is very special to me so it was great to get a good welcome from both sets of supporters. The application of the players was excellent."

Liam Chelsea manager has this place dear to him, considering part of his relatives are from Hull and his successful spell in charge of the Tigers. This happy connection continued with a magnificent display from his team, who in the end sauntered into the fifth round of the FA Cup.

Clinical Finishing Seals Comprehensive Victory

Three days after surrendering a 2-0 lead in the league, there was a sniff of vulnerability about Chelsea going into this potentially tricky tie. The packed Hull crowd evidently sensed it too, but Rosenior's men handled the task perfectly.

The manager rang the changes, enacting seven of them to his XI. The tie might and maybe ought to have been settled long before it actually was, with two the Brazilian winger and Liam Delap at fault for missing glorious opportunities to put Chelsea ahead in the opening period.

However, luckily for the away team, their Portuguese attacker was in a far more ruthless frame of mind. He broke the deadlock with a spectacular distance effort, which proved to be the spark for his team to assume command of proceedings. By full time, they had four, with the forward netting three of them for a brilliant hat-trick.

The Forward's Redemption and Impact

The home side showed great fight throughout, but the clearer opportunities consistently came Chelsea’s way. The winger should have opened the deadlock when he went past goalkeeper the Hull stopper before unbelievably firing over. The striker then had a similar horror incident in front of goal against his old team.

He deflected a the goalkeeper's kick which bounced back from 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 backline had responded to clear the threat.

Delap had his head in his hands after that moment, but he was hugely influential from there on out, providing three assists. The first was for the first goal as his through ball set up his teammate to finish from range. Shortly after the restart, it was two as the forward's corner went straight in under the keeper's legs.

Tie Sealed and Attention Shifts

Seven minutes after the second goal, the match was put beyond doubt as a dazzling dribble from the forward laid on Estêvão to slide into an unguarded goal. The hat-trick hero then finished his hat-trick as Delap once again played the crucial ball for the attacker to calmly convert past a stranded goalkeeper.

By that stage, the effort Hull had done in the opening half-hour had long since erased. Their priority must now return to achieving a promotion to the Premier League under Sergej Jakirovic, who rested a number of 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 very good position in the Championship," he said. "Keep fighting, maybe in the upcoming matches this can be a good lesson of how we should play."

Hull showed plenty of endeavour to the end, and they nearly got a consolation when a substitute struck a post in stoppage time. But this was Chelsea’s night, and another encouraging step forward for their recently-appointed manager at a place he knows very well.

FA Cup History Are Promising

The result resulted in an in the end routine evening’s performance, and the FA Cup-shaped omens are positive from here for Chelsea. They have played Hull on three other times in this tournament in the last decade and on each occasion, they have progressed to reach the final. Much remains to be work in that regard, but this was another huge positive for the Chelsea boss.