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Against a backdrop of freezing rain, flurries, and a swirling wind from the waters of the Humber, alongside a determined Hull City side pushing hard for a top-flight place, this had all the makings of a difficult night's task for Chelsea.

"We might have added to our tally but the opposition are a strong team and it was a tough fixture; I’m delighted with the performance," he said. "Hull City means a lot to me so it was nice to get a good welcome from both sets of supporters. The application of the lads was excellent."

Liam Chelsea manager has this place close to his heart, given part of his relatives hail from Hull and his successful spell in management of the Championship club. This positive connection continued with a magnificent performance from his team, who ultimately sauntered into the next round of the famous old competition.

Clinical Finishing Seals Comfortable Win

Three days removed from surrendering a two-goal advantage in the league, there was a hint of vulnerability about them going into this intriguing cup clash. The capacity Hull crowd evidently sensed it too, but Rosenior's men navigated the task with ease.

Rosenior rang the changes, enacting seven of them to his XI. The tie might and perhaps should have been settled long before it actually was, with both the Brazilian winger and Liam Delap at fault for spurning glorious chances to put Chelsea ahead in the first half.

But, luckily for the visitors, 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 his team to take control of proceedings. By the final whistle, they had four, with Neto netting a trio of them for a brilliant hat-trick.

The Forward's Redemption and Impact

Hull showed great fight throughout, but the clearer opportunities always fell Chelsea’s way. The winger should have broken the deadlock when he rounded goalkeeper the Hull stopper before unbelievably firing over. The striker then had a similar horror incident in front of goal against his former club.

He deflected a Phillips's kick which bounced back from the bar, and Delap began to run away thinking the ball had gone over the line. It had not, and by the time he understood, Hull's defenders had reacted to avert the threat.

The player had his head in his hands after that moment, but he was hugely influential from that point onward, providing 3 assists. The first was for the first goal as his through ball teed up his teammate to score from range. Shortly after the second half began, it was 2-0 as Neto's corner went straight in under the keeper's legs.

Contest Put Beyond Doubt and Attention Shifts

Seven minutes after the second, the match was put beyond doubt as a dazzling run from Delap laid on Estêvão to slide into an unguarded goal. The hat-trick hero then completed his hat-trick as the provider again played the crucial ball for the attacker to coolly slot past a stranded goalkeeper.

By that stage, the work Hull had done in the first half-hour had long since erased. Their focus must now switch back to achieving a return to the Premier League under Sergej Jakirovic, who rested several key individuals with that aim 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. "Never surrender, maybe in the upcoming matches this can be a good example of how we should play."

Hull showed plenty of endeavour to the end, and they almost claimed a late goal when a substitute struck a post in injury time. But this was the Blues' evening, and another positive step forward for their new head coach at a stadium he is familiar with intimately.

Cup History Are Good

That made for an in the end straightforward night's performance, and the cup competition signs are good from here for Chelsea. They have played Hull on three previous times in this competition in the last decade and on each occasion, they have progressed to make the final. Much remains to be work in that regard, but this was another huge tick for the Chelsea boss.