Amid sleet, flurries, and a swirling breeze from the waters of the Humber Estuary, combined with a determined home side fighting for promotion, this had all the makings of a challenging evening’s task for the visitors.
"We could have added to our tally but the opposition are a strong team and it was a difficult fixture; I am very pleased with the performance," the manager stated. "Hull City means a lot to me so it was nice to get a good reception from both sets of fans. The attitude of the players was superb."
Liam Chelsea manager has this place dear to him, considering some of his family are from Hull and his enjoyable spell in management of the Championship club. This positive connection continued with a commanding performance from his squad, who in the end strolled into the fifth round of the FA Cup.
Three days after letting slip a two-goal advantage in the Premier League, there was a hint of vulnerability about Chelsea going into this intriguing tie. The capacity home support evidently felt it too, but Rosenior's men navigated the challenge with ease.
The manager made alterations, making multiple of them to his starting lineup. The tie might and maybe ought to have been settled earlier than it eventually was, with two the Brazilian winger and Liam Delap guilty of spurning excellent chances to put Chelsea in front in the first half.
However, fortunately for the visitors, their Portuguese attacker was in a far more clinical frame of mind. He opened the scoring with a spectacular long-range strike, which acted as the spark for his team to assume command of proceedings. By full time, they had 4 goals, with the forward netting three of them for a superb hat-trick.
The home side displayed great spirit all game, but the better opportunities always fell to the visitors. The winger ought to have broken the deadlock when he rounded goalkeeper Dillon Phillips before unbelievably shooting over. Delap then had a similar horror incident in front of goal against his old team.
He blocked a Phillips's clearance which came off the bar, and he started to celebrate thinking the ball had crossed the line. It hadn’t, and by the time he understood, Hull's backline had reacted to avert the danger.
Delap had his head in his hands after that moment, but he was immensely instrumental from that point onward, registering 3 assists. The first was for the opening goal as his pass set up his teammate to score from range. Six minutes after the second half began, it was two as Neto's set-piece went straight in under the keeper's legs.
Seven minutes after the second, the tie was put beyond doubt as a magnificent dribble from the forward teed up Estêvão to tap into an unguarded goal. Neto then finished his hat-trick as Delap once again delivered the decisive pass for the attacker to coolly convert past a stranded Phillips.
By that stage, the effort Hull had put in in the opening half-hour had been forgotten. Their priority must now switch back to securing a return to the Premier League under their manager, who left out a number of key individuals with that goal in mind.
"I think we deserved at least one goal but if we perform like this we will be in a strong situation in the league," he said. "Keep fighting, maybe in the next games this can be a positive example of how we must play."
Hull showed great endeavour to the final whistle, and they nearly claimed a consolation when Lewis Koumas struck a post in stoppage time. But this was Chelsea’s night, and another positive step forward for their new head coach at a stadium he is familiar with intimately.
The result resulted in an ultimately routine night's work, and the cup competition signs are good from here for the winners. They have faced Hull on three previous occasions in this tournament in the last decade and every single time, they have progressed to reach the final. Much still work in that respect, but this was another significant positive for the Chelsea boss.
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