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Against a backdrop of sleet, snow, and a swirling wind off the waters of the Humber, alongside a resolute Hull City side pushing hard for a top-flight place, this presented all the ingredients of a challenging evening’s task for the visitors.

"We could have scored more but the opposition are a good team and it was a difficult fixture; I’m delighted with the display," the manager stated. "This club is very special to me so it was nice to get a positive welcome from the fans of fans. The application of the players was superb."

Liam Rosenior has this city close to his heart, considering some of his relatives hail from Hull and his successful period in management of the Championship club. This positive connection was extended with a commanding performance from his squad, who ultimately strolled into the next round of the FA Cup.

Deadly Finishing Secures Comfortable Victory

Three days removed from letting slip a 2-0 advantage in the league, there was a hint of vulnerability about Chelsea going into this potentially tricky tie. The capacity home support clearly sensed it too, but Rosenior's men navigated the task with ease.

The manager made alterations, enacting seven of them to his starting lineup. The tie might and maybe should have been settled long before it eventually was, with two Estêvão Willian and Liam Delap guilty of missing excellent opportunities to put Chelsea ahead in the first half.

However, fortunately for the visitors, their Portuguese attacker was in a far more clinical mood. He opened the deadlock with a marvellous long-range effort, which acted as the spark for Chelsea to take command of the match. By the final whistle, they had 4 goals, with Neto scoring a trio of them for a superb three-goal haul.

The Forward's Response and Impact

Hull displayed plenty of spirit throughout, but the clearer chances consistently fell Chelsea’s way. Estêvão ought to have opened the deadlock when he went past keeper Dillon Phillips before unbelievably shooting over. The striker then had a comparable horror moment in front of goal against his former club.

He blocked a the goalkeeper's kick which came back from the crossbar, and he started to celebrate thinking the ball had gone over the line. It hadn’t, and by the time he realised, Hull's backline had responded to avert the threat.

The player had his head in his hands after that miss, 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. Six minutes after the restart, it was two as the forward's corner went directly in under the keeper's legs.

Tie Put Beyond Doubt and Attention Turns

Soon after Neto’s second goal, the tie was effectively ended as a dazzling run from the forward teed up Estêvão to slide into an empty net. The hat-trick hero then finished his treble as Delap once again played the crucial ball for the attacker to calmly slot past a stranded Phillips.

By that stage, the effort Hull had put in in the first half-hour had been erased. Their focus must now switch back to securing a promotion to the top division under their manager, who left out a number of key players with that aim in mind.

"In my opinion we earned at least one goal but if we play like this we will be in a strong situation in the league," the Hull manager commented. "Keep fighting, maybe in the upcoming games this can be a positive example of how we must play."

There was plenty of effort to the final whistle, and they nearly claimed a late goal when Lewis Koumas struck a post in stoppage time. But this was the Blues' night, and another encouraging step forward for their new manager at a place he is familiar with intimately.

FA Cup Omens Look Promising

The result resulted in an in the end straightforward evening’s performance, and the FA Cup-shaped signs are good from here for the winners. They have played Hull on three previous times in this tournament in the last decade and on each occasion, they have progressed to reach the final. There is remains to be work in that regard, but this was another huge tick for Rosenior.