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Amid freezing rain, snow, and a swirling breeze from the waters of the Humber Estuary, alongside a resolute Hull City side fighting for promotion, this presented all the makings of a difficult evening’s task for Chelsea.

"We might have added to our tally but Hull are a good team and it was a tough fixture; I’m very pleased with the display," he said. "This club means a lot to me so it was great to get a good reception from both sets of fans. The attitude of the lads was excellent."

Liam Chelsea manager holds this city dear to him, considering part of his relatives hail from Hull and his enjoyable spell in management of the Championship club. This positive connection continued with a magnificent performance from his team, who in the end sauntered into the next round of the famous old competition.

Clinical Edge Seals Comprehensive Victory

Seventy-two hours removed from surrendering a two-goal advantage in the league, there was a sniff of fragility about Chelsea going into this intriguing tie. The packed home crowd evidently sensed it too, but Rosenior's men handled the task with ease.

Rosenior rang the changes, making seven of them to his starting lineup. The tie could and perhaps ought to have been settled long before it actually was, with both the Brazilian winger and Liam Delap at fault for missing glorious opportunities to put their side ahead in the first half.

However, 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 the forward netting a trio of them for a brilliant hat-trick.

Delap's Response and Impact

The home side displayed plenty of fight all game, but the clearer opportunities always came to the visitors. The winger ought to have opened the scoring when he rounded goalkeeper Dillon Phillips before inexplicably shooting over. The striker then had a similar nightmare incident in front of goal against his old team.

He deflected a Phillips's kick which bounced back from the bar, and he began to run away believing the ball had gone over the line. It hadn’t, and by the time he understood, Hull's backline had responded to clear the danger.

The player had his head in his hands after that miss, but he was hugely influential from that point onward, providing 3 key passes. The opening was for the opening goal as his pass teed up his teammate to score from range. Shortly after the second half began, it was two as Neto's corner went straight in under the keeper's legs.

Tie Put Beyond Doubt and Focus Turns

Soon after the second goal, the match was put beyond doubt as a magnificent run from the forward teed up his teammate to tap into an unguarded goal. Neto then finished his treble as the provider once again played the decisive ball for the attacker to calmly convert by a stranded Phillips.

By that stage, the effort Hull had done in the first half-hour had been erased. Their priority must now switch back to achieving a return to the top division under Sergej Jakirovic, who rested a number of key individuals with that aim in mind.

"In my opinion we earned at least one goal but if we perform like this we will be in a very good position in the league," the Hull manager commented. "Keep fighting, maybe in the next games this can be a good example of how we should play."

Hull showed plenty of effort to the final whistle, and they almost got a late goal when Lewis Koumas struck a post in injury time. But this was the Blues' night, and another positive stride for their recently-appointed manager at a stadium he knows very well.

Cup Omens Are Good

The result resulted in an in the end straightforward evening’s work, and the cup competition signs are positive from here for Chelsea. They have faced Hull on three previous times in this tournament in the last decade and on each occasion, they have progressed to reach the showpiece. There is remains to be work in that respect, but this was another huge positive for the Chelsea boss.