Against a backdrop of freezing rain, snow, and a swirling wind off the waters of the Humber, combined with a determined Hull City side pushing hard for a top-flight place, this presented all the makings of a challenging night's task for the visitors.
"We might have added to our tally but the opposition are a strong team and it was a difficult tie; I’m very pleased with the display," the manager stated. "Hull City means a lot to me so it was nice to get a good welcome from both sets of fans. The application of the lads was superb."
The Rosenior has this place close to his heart, given part of his relatives hail from Hull and his enjoyable period in charge of the Championship club. This positive association was extended with a commanding display from his team, who ultimately sauntered into the fifth round of the famous old competition.
Seventy-two hours after surrendering a two-goal lead in the Premier League, there was a hint of fragility about them going into this potentially tricky cup clash. The packed home crowd evidently sensed it too, but the London side navigated the challenge perfectly.
Rosenior made alterations, enacting seven of them to his XI. The match could and perhaps ought to have been decided long before it actually was, with both Estêvão Willian and the forward at fault for spurning glorious chances to put Chelsea ahead in the opening period.
But, luckily for the visitors, their Portuguese attacker was in a far more clinical frame of mind. He opened the deadlock with a marvellous distance effort, which proved to be the spark for his team to assume command of the match. By the final whistle, they had four, with the forward netting a trio of them for a brilliant three-goal haul.
The home side displayed great fight all game, but the clearer chances always fell Chelsea’s way. The winger ought to have opened the scoring when he went past goalkeeper Dillon Phillips before inexplicably firing over. Delap then had a comparable nightmare moment in front of goal against his old team.
He blocked a the goalkeeper's clearance which bounced off the crossbar, and he began to run away thinking the ball had crossed the line. It had not, and by the time he understood, Hull's defenders had responded to clear the threat.
The player had his head in his hands after that miss, but he was hugely instrumental from there on out, registering three key passes. The opening was for the first goal as his through ball set up Neto to finish from range. Shortly after the restart, it was two as Neto's set-piece went directly in through Phillips's legs.
Soon after the second goal, the match was effectively ended as a magnificent dribble from the forward laid on Estêvão to slide into an empty net. The hat-trick hero then completed his treble as the provider once again played the decisive pass for the attacker to calmly slot by a helpless goalkeeper.
At that point, the effort Hull had put in in the first thirty minutes had been forgotten. Their priority must now switch back to achieving a return to the top division under their manager, who left out several first-choice 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 very good position in the league," the Hull manager commented. "Keep fighting, maybe in the next matches this can be a good example of how we must play."
Hull showed plenty of effort to the end, and they almost got a late goal when Lewis Koumas hit a the upright in injury time. But this was the Blues' evening, and another positive step forward for their new manager at a stadium he knows intimately.
The result made for an ultimately routine evening’s work, and the FA Cup-shaped signs are positive from here for the winners. They have played Hull on three other times in this competition in the last decade and on each occasion, they have progressed to reach the final. There is still done in that respect, but this was another huge positive for Rosenior.
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