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Against a backdrop of sleet, flurries, and a biting wind off the banks of the Humber, combined with a determined Hull City side fighting for promotion, this had all the ingredients of a challenging night's work for the visitors.

"We might have added to our tally but Hull are a strong team and it was a tough fixture; I’m delighted with the performance," he said. "Hull City is very special to me so it was great to get a positive reception from both sets of fans. The attitude of the lads was excellent."

Liam Rosenior holds this place dear to him, considering part of his relatives hail from Hull and his enjoyable spell in management of the Championship club. His positive association was extended with a commanding display from his team, who ultimately sauntered into the next round of the famous old competition.

Deadly Edge Secures Comprehensive Win

Seventy-two hours removed from surrendering a 2-0 lead in the league, there was a sniff of fragility about Chelsea going into this intriguing cup clash. The packed home crowd evidently sensed it too, but Rosenior's men handled the task with ease.

The manager rang the changes, making seven of them to his XI. The tie might and perhaps ought to have been settled earlier than it eventually was, with two the Brazilian winger and the forward at fault for missing glorious chances to put Chelsea ahead in the opening period.

However, fortunately for the visitors, Pedro Neto was in a far more clinical mood. He opened the deadlock with a spectacular long-range effort, which proved to be the spark for Chelsea to take control of proceedings. By full time, they had 4 goals, with Neto netting a trio of them for a superb hat-trick.

The Forward's Response and Influence

The home side displayed great fight throughout, but the clearer opportunities consistently fell to the visitors. Estêvão should have broken the deadlock when he rounded goalkeeper the Hull stopper before inexplicably shooting over. The striker then had a comparable horror moment in front of goal against his old team.

He blocked a the goalkeeper's kick which bounced back from the bar, and he started to celebrate believing the ball had crossed the line. It hadn’t, and by the time he understood, Hull's defenders had reacted to avert the danger.

Delap had his head in his hands after that miss, but he was hugely influential from that point onward, providing 3 key passes. The first was for the first goal as his pass set up Neto to score from outside the box. Six minutes after the restart, it was 2-0 as Neto's corner went directly in through the keeper's legs.

Tie Put Beyond Doubt and Attention Turns

Soon after Neto’s second goal, 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 Delap again played the decisive ball for the attacker to coolly slot past a stranded goalkeeper.

At that point, the work Hull had put in in the first thirty minutes had long since erased. Their focus must now return to achieving a promotion to the Premier League under their manager, who rested several key individuals with that aim in mind.

"I think 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 positive lesson of how we should 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 the Blues' night, and another positive step forward for their recently-appointed head coach at a stadium he knows very well.

Cup History Are Promising

The result made for an ultimately routine evening’s work, and the cup competition omens are positive from here for Chelsea. They have played Hull on three previous times in this competition in the past ten years and on each occasion, they have gone on to make the showpiece. There is remains to be done in that regard, but this was another huge positive for the Chelsea boss.