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Against a backdrop of sleet, flurries, and a biting breeze off the waters of the Humber Estuary, combined with a resolute Hull City side pushing hard for promotion, this presented all the ingredients of a challenging night's work for the visitors.

"We might have scored more but the opposition are a good team and it was a difficult fixture; I’m very pleased with the performance," the manager stated. "Hull City means a lot to me so it was great to get a positive welcome from the fans of fans. The attitude of the lads was excellent."

Liam Chelsea manager holds this place close to his heart, given some of his relatives are from Hull and his successful period in management of the Championship club. This positive association was extended with a magnificent performance from his team, who in the end strolled into the next round of the famous old competition.

Deadly Edge Seals Comprehensive Win

Seventy-two hours removed from surrendering a two-goal lead in the league, there was a hint of fragility about Chelsea going into this potentially tricky cup clash. The packed home support clearly felt it too, but Rosenior's men navigated the challenge perfectly.

Rosenior made alterations, making multiple of them to his starting lineup. The tie could and maybe should have been settled long before it eventually was, with two the Brazilian winger and Liam Delap guilty of spurning excellent opportunities to put their side in front in the first half.

However, fortunately for the visitors, their Portuguese attacker was in a far more clinical mood. He broke the deadlock with a marvellous long-range effort, which acted as the catalyst for Chelsea to take control of proceedings. By full time, they had 4 goals, with Neto scoring a trio of them for a superb hat-trick.

Delap's Redemption and Influence

Hull displayed great spirit throughout, but the clearer opportunities consistently fell to the visitors. The winger ought to have opened the deadlock when he went past goalkeeper Dillon Phillips before unbelievably shooting over. Delap then had a comparable nightmare incident in front of goal against his old team.

He deflected a Phillips's kick which bounced back from the crossbar, and Delap started to celebrate thinking the ball had gone over the line. It had not, and by the time he understood, Hull's backline had responded to avert the danger.

The player had his head in his hands after that moment, but he was hugely instrumental from that point onward, providing three assists. The first was for the opening goal as his pass set up his teammate to score from outside the box. Six minutes after the second half began, it was 2-0 as the forward's corner went directly in under Phillips's legs.

Contest Put Beyond Doubt and Focus Shifts

Seven minutes after the second, the match was effectively ended as a dazzling dribble from the forward laid on his teammate to slide into an unguarded goal. The hat-trick hero then completed his hat-trick as the provider again delivered the decisive ball for the attacker to calmly slot past a helpless goalkeeper.

By that stage, the work Hull had put in in the first thirty minutes had been erased. Their focus must now switch back to achieving a return to the top division under their manager, who rested several first-choice individuals 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 situation in the league," he said. "Keep fighting, maybe in the upcoming matches this can be a good lesson of how we must play."

There was great endeavour to the end, and they nearly got a late goal when Lewis Koumas hit a post in injury time. But this was the Blues' night, and another positive step forward for their new head coach at a place he is familiar with intimately.

Cup Omens Are Good

That made for an in the end straightforward night's work, and the cup competition signs are positive from here for Chelsea. They have played Hull on three previous times in this tournament in the last decade and every single time, they have progressed to make the final. Much still done in that respect, but this was another huge tick for Rosenior.