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Amid freezing rain, flurries, and a swirling wind off the banks of the Humber, combined with a determined Hull City side pushing hard for a top-flight place, this presented all the makings of a challenging evening’s work for Chelsea.

"We could have scored more but Hull are a good team and it was a tough fixture; I’m very pleased with the performance," he said. "Hull City means a lot to me so it was nice to get a good reception from the fans of fans. The attitude of the players was superb."

Liam Chelsea manager has this place dear to him, considering part of his family are from Hull and his successful spell in management of the Tigers. This positive association continued with a magnificent performance from his squad, who ultimately sauntered into the next round of the famous old competition.

Deadly Finishing Secures Comfortable Win

Seventy-two hours removed from letting slip a two-goal advantage in the Premier League, there was a hint of vulnerability about Chelsea going into this intriguing cup clash. The capacity home crowd evidently felt it too, but Rosenior's men handled the task perfectly.

Rosenior made alterations, making seven of them to his starting lineup. The match could and perhaps should have been settled earlier than it actually was, with two the Brazilian winger and the forward guilty of spurning excellent opportunities to put their side in front in the first half.

But, luckily for the visitors, Pedro Neto was in a far more clinical mood. He opened the deadlock with a spectacular distance strike, which acted as the catalyst for his team to assume command of the match. By the final whistle, they had 4 goals, with Neto scoring three of them for a superb hat-trick.

The Forward's Response and Influence

The home side showed great spirit throughout, but the clearer opportunities always came Chelsea’s way. Estêvão ought to have opened the deadlock when he went past keeper the Hull stopper before unbelievably firing over. The striker then had a comparable nightmare incident in front of goal against his old team.

He deflected a the goalkeeper's kick which bounced back from the crossbar, and Delap began to run away thinking the ball had crossed the line. It had not, and by the time he understood, Hull's backline had reacted to avert the threat.

Delap had his head in his hands after that moment, but he was immensely influential from there on out, registering three assists. The first was for the opening goal as his pass teed up his teammate to score from outside the box. Shortly after the restart, it was two as Neto's corner went straight in through the keeper's legs.

Contest Sealed and Focus Shifts

Seven minutes after the second goal, the match was put beyond doubt as a magnificent dribble from the forward teed up his teammate to slide into an unguarded goal. The hat-trick hero then completed his hat-trick as Delap once again delivered the decisive ball for the striker to calmly slot by a helpless Phillips.

At that point, the effort Hull had done in the opening half-hour had long since forgotten. Their priority must now switch back to achieving a promotion to the top division under their manager, who left out several key 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 strong position in the league," the Hull manager commented. "Never surrender, maybe in the next games this can be a positive example of how we must play."

There was great endeavour to the end, and they nearly got a consolation when a substitute struck a post in stoppage time. But this was the Blues' night, and another positive step forward for their recently-appointed manager at a place he knows very well.

Cup History Are Good

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