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Against a backdrop of sleet, flurries, and a biting wind from the waters of the Humber Estuary, combined with a resolute home side pushing hard for promotion, this had all the ingredients of a challenging night's work for Chelsea.

"We might have added to our tally but Hull are a good team and it was a tough tie; I’m delighted with the display," the manager stated. "Hull City is very special to me so it was great to get a good reception from both sets of supporters. The attitude of the lads was excellent."

The Chelsea manager has this place dear to him, considering some of his relatives hail from Hull and his successful spell in charge of the Tigers. This positive connection was extended with a magnificent performance from his team, who ultimately strolled into the next round of the famous old competition.

Deadly Edge Secures Comprehensive Win

Three days removed from surrendering a 2-0 advantage in the Premier League, there was a hint of fragility about them going into this intriguing cup clash. The packed home crowd clearly sensed it too, but Rosenior's men handled the task with ease.

The manager rang the changes, making multiple of them to his starting lineup. The tie could and maybe should have been settled long before it actually was, with both Estêvão Willian and the forward at fault for missing excellent opportunities to put Chelsea in front in the opening period.

But, fortunately for the visitors, their Portuguese attacker was in a far more clinical frame of mind. He opened the scoring with a marvellous long-range effort, which proved to be the spark for his team to assume command of the match. By full time, they had four, with Neto netting three of them for a superb three-goal haul.

Delap's Response and Influence

The home side showed plenty of spirit all game, but the clearer opportunities always fell Chelsea’s way. Estêvão ought to have opened the scoring when he went past goalkeeper the Hull stopper before unbelievably firing over. Delap then had a comparable horror incident in front of goal against his old team.

He blocked a Phillips's clearance which bounced back from the crossbar, and he started to run away believing the ball had gone over the line. It had not, and by the time he realised, Hull's defenders had reacted to avert the danger.

Delap had his head in his hands after that miss, but he was immensely influential from that point onward, providing three assists. The opening was for the opening goal as his through ball teed up Neto to score from outside the box. Shortly after the second half began, it was two as Neto's corner went directly in under Phillips's legs.

Tie Sealed and Attention Shifts

Seven minutes after Neto’s second goal, the match was put beyond doubt as a magnificent run from the forward laid on Estêvão to slide into an unguarded goal. Neto then completed his treble as the provider once again played the decisive pass for the attacker to calmly slot by a helpless Phillips.

At that point, the work Hull had done in the first half-hour had long since forgotten. Their priority must now switch back to securing a return to the top division under Sergej Jakirovic, who left out several first-choice players with that goal in mind.

"In my opinion we deserved at least one goal but if we perform like this we will be in a very good position in the Championship," the Hull manager commented. "Never surrender, maybe in the upcoming games this can be a good lesson of how we must play."

Hull showed great endeavour to the end, and they almost claimed a late goal when Lewis Koumas struck a the upright in injury time. But this was Chelsea’s evening, and another positive step forward for their new manager at a stadium he is familiar with intimately.

Cup Omens Look Promising

That 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 other times in this tournament in the last decade 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 significant tick for the Chelsea boss.