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Against a backdrop of freezing rain, flurries, and a swirling breeze off the banks of the Humber Estuary, combined with a determined home side fighting for promotion, this presented all the makings of a difficult night's task for Chelsea.

"We might have scored more but the opposition are a strong team and it was a tough fixture; I’m delighted with the display," he said. "This club means a lot to me so it was nice to get a positive welcome from both sets of fans. The attitude of the players was excellent."

Liam Chelsea manager holds this city dear to him, considering some of his family hail from Hull and his successful period in management of the Tigers. His happy association continued with a commanding performance from his team, who ultimately sauntered into the next round of the famous old competition.

Clinical Edge Secures Comfortable Victory

Seventy-two hours after surrendering a two-goal advantage in the league, there was a hint of fragility about Chelsea going into this intriguing tie. The packed home crowd clearly felt it too, but Rosenior's men navigated the challenge perfectly.

Rosenior made alterations, enacting seven of them to his XI. The match might and perhaps ought to have been decided long before it eventually was, with two the Brazilian winger and the forward guilty of spurning excellent opportunities to put Chelsea ahead in the first half.

But, fortunately for the visitors, Pedro Neto was in a much more ruthless mood. He broke the deadlock with a marvellous long-range strike, which acted as the spark for Chelsea to assume control of the match. By full time, they had 4 goals, with Neto netting a trio of them for a superb hat-trick.

The Forward's Redemption and Influence

Hull displayed plenty of spirit throughout, but the better opportunities always fell Chelsea’s way. The winger should have opened the scoring when he rounded goalkeeper the Hull stopper before unbelievably firing over. The striker then had a comparable nightmare incident in front of goal against his old team.

He blocked a the goalkeeper's kick which came off the bar, and Delap started to run away believing the ball had crossed the line. It hadn’t, and by the time he realised, Hull's backline had responded to avert the danger.

Delap had his head in his hands after that moment, but he was immensely influential from there on out, registering three assists. The opening was for the first goal as his through ball teed up his teammate to score from outside the box. Six minutes after the second half began, it was two as the forward's set-piece went straight in under the keeper's legs.

Contest Put Beyond Doubt and Attention Shifts

Soon after the second goal, the match was effectively ended as a magnificent dribble from the forward teed up Estêvão to tap into an empty net. The hat-trick hero then finished his hat-trick as the provider again delivered the crucial pass for the striker to calmly convert past a stranded goalkeeper.

By that stage, the effort Hull had put in in the opening half-hour had long since forgotten. Their priority must now return to securing a promotion to the Premier League under their manager, who left out several key players with that goal in mind.

"I think we earned 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. "Never surrender, maybe in the upcoming games this can be a good lesson of how we must play."

There was great effort to the end, and they almost claimed a late goal when Lewis Koumas hit a the upright 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.

Cup History Look Good

That made for an ultimately straightforward night's work, and the cup competition omens are good from here for Chelsea. They have played Hull on three previous occasions in this competition in the last decade and on each occasion, they have gone on to make the showpiece. There is still work in that regard, but this was another huge positive for the Chelsea boss.