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Amid freezing rain, snow, and a biting breeze from the waters of the Humber Estuary, combined with a determined Hull City side fighting for promotion, this had all the makings of a difficult evening’s task for Chelsea.

"We could have added to our tally but the opposition are a good team and it was a difficult tie; I am delighted with the display," the manager stated. "This club is very special to me so it was great to get a positive reception from the fans of supporters. The application of the players was excellent."

Liam Rosenior holds this city dear to him, considering some of his relatives are from Hull and his enjoyable spell in charge of the Tigers. His happy connection was extended with a commanding display from his squad, who ultimately strolled into the next round of the famous old competition.

Deadly Finishing Seals Comprehensive Win

Seventy-two hours after letting slip a two-goal advantage in the Premier League, there was a hint of fragility about Chelsea going into this potentially tricky cup clash. The capacity home support clearly sensed it too, but the London side navigated the challenge with ease.

Rosenior made alterations, enacting seven of them to his starting lineup. The match might and perhaps ought to have been decided earlier than it actually was, with two the Brazilian winger and Liam Delap at fault for spurning glorious chances to put Chelsea in front in the first half.

But, luckily for the away team, Pedro Neto was in a much more clinical mood. He opened the scoring with a spectacular long-range strike, which proved to be the catalyst for his team to assume command of proceedings. By the final whistle, they had 4 goals, with Neto netting three of them for a superb three-goal haul.

The Forward's Redemption and Influence

The home side showed plenty of fight all game, but the clearer opportunities always came to the visitors. Estêvão ought to have broken the scoring when he rounded goalkeeper Dillon Phillips before inexplicably 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 back from the bar, and he started to celebrate believing the ball had gone over the line. It hadn’t, and by the time he realised, Hull's backline had reacted to avert the danger.

Delap had his head in his hands after that miss, but he was hugely instrumental from there on out, providing three assists. The opening was for the opening goal as his through ball teed up his teammate to finish from range. Six minutes after the second half began, it was 2-0 as Neto's set-piece went directly in under Phillips's legs.

Contest Sealed and Focus Turns

Seven minutes after Neto’s second goal, the match was effectively ended as a magnificent run from Delap laid on Estêvão to slide into an empty net. The hat-trick hero then finished his hat-trick as the provider once again played the decisive ball for the attacker to coolly convert past a helpless goalkeeper.

By that stage, the work Hull had done in the first thirty minutes had long since forgotten. Their priority must now return to securing a promotion to the Premier League under their manager, who left out several first-choice players with that goal in mind.

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

There was plenty of endeavour to the end, and they nearly got a late goal when Lewis Koumas hit a post in stoppage time. But this was Chelsea’s night, and another positive stride for their new manager at a place he is familiar with very well.

Cup History Are Good

That made for an in the end routine evening’s performance, and the cup competition omens are positive from here for the winners. They have faced Hull on three previous times in this competition in the last decade and every single time, they have gone on to reach the showpiece. There is remains to be work in that regard, but this was another huge positive for the Chelsea boss.