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Amid sleet, snow, and a biting breeze from the waters of the Humber Estuary, alongside a resolute home side fighting for promotion, this had all the makings of a challenging evening’s task for Chelsea.

"We could have added to our tally but Hull are a good team and it was a tough fixture; I am delighted with the performance," the manager stated. "Hull City is very special to me so it was nice to get a good reception from the fans of supporters. The attitude of the players was superb."

The Rosenior has this place dear to him, considering part of his family hail from Hull and his successful spell in management of the Championship club. His happy connection continued with a commanding performance from his squad, who in the end sauntered into the next round of the famous old competition.

Deadly Finishing Secures Comfortable Victory

Three days after surrendering a two-goal lead in the league, there was a sniff of fragility about them going into this potentially tricky tie. The capacity Hull support evidently felt it too, but the London side handled the task with ease.

Rosenior rang the changes, making multiple of them to his starting lineup. The match could and maybe ought to have been decided earlier than it eventually was, with both Estêvão Willian and the forward guilty of spurning glorious opportunities to put their side ahead in the first half.

But, luckily for the visitors, Pedro Neto was in a much more ruthless mood. He broke the deadlock with a marvellous distance strike, which proved to be the spark for Chelsea to take control of proceedings. By full time, they had four, with Neto scoring three of them for a superb three-goal haul.

The Forward's Response and Influence

Hull displayed plenty of spirit all game, but the better opportunities consistently fell to the visitors. Estêvão should have broken the scoring when he rounded keeper the Hull stopper before inexplicably firing over. Delap then had a similar horror moment in front of goal against his former club.

He deflected a the goalkeeper's clearance which bounced back from the crossbar, and he started to run away believing the ball had gone over the line. It hadn’t, and by the time he understood, Hull's defenders had responded to avert the threat.

The player had his head in his hands after that miss, but he was immensely instrumental from there on out, providing 3 key passes. The opening was for the opening goal as his pass set up his teammate to score from range. Six minutes after the restart, it was 2-0 as Neto's corner went directly in under 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 the forward laid on Estêvão to tap into an empty net. Neto then completed his hat-trick as the provider again delivered the decisive pass for the attacker to calmly slot past a stranded Phillips.

At that point, the work Hull had put in in the opening half-hour had long since forgotten. Their priority must now return to achieving a return to the Premier League under their manager, who left out a number of 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 Championship," the Hull manager commented. "Keep fighting, maybe in the next games this can be a positive lesson of how we should play."

There was great effort to the final whistle, and they nearly got a consolation when a substitute struck a the upright in stoppage time. But this was the Blues' night, and another positive step forward for their new head coach at a place he is familiar with very well.

Cup History Look Good

The result made for an ultimately straightforward evening’s performance, and the cup competition omens are positive from here for Chelsea. They have faced Hull on three previous occasions in this competition in the last decade and on each occasion, they have progressed to reach the final. Much still work in that respect, but this was another significant positive for the Chelsea boss.