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Against a backdrop of sleet, snow, and a swirling breeze off the banks of the Humber Estuary, combined with a determined Hull City side pushing hard for a top-flight place, this had all the makings of a difficult evening’s task for Chelsea.

"We could have scored more but the opposition are a strong team and it was a tough tie; I’m delighted with the performance," he said. "This club is very special to me so it was nice to get a good welcome from both sets of supporters. The attitude of the lads was superb."

Liam Chelsea manager holds this place dear to him, considering some of his family hail from Hull and his enjoyable period in management of the Championship club. This positive connection was extended with a commanding performance from his team, who ultimately strolled into the next round of the famous old competition.

Deadly Edge Seals Comfortable Win

Three days after surrendering a two-goal lead in the league, there was a hint of vulnerability about them going into this intriguing tie. The capacity Hull crowd clearly felt it too, but the London side handled the challenge perfectly.

The manager rang the changes, enacting seven of them to his starting lineup. The tie might and perhaps should have been decided long before it eventually was, with two the Brazilian winger and Liam Delap at fault for missing glorious chances to put Chelsea ahead in the first half.

However, luckily for the visitors, their Portuguese attacker was in a much more ruthless frame of mind. He broke the deadlock with a spectacular long-range effort, which proved to be the catalyst for Chelsea to take command of the match. By the final whistle, they had 4 goals, with Neto scoring three of them for a brilliant three-goal haul.

Delap's Redemption and Impact

Hull showed plenty of fight throughout, but the better opportunities always came Chelsea’s way. The winger ought to have broken the deadlock when he rounded goalkeeper the Hull stopper before inexplicably shooting over. The striker then had a comparable horror incident in front of goal against his old team.

He deflected a the goalkeeper's clearance which bounced back from the crossbar, and Delap started to celebrate believing the ball had gone over the line. It hadn’t, and by the time he realised, Hull's backline had responded to clear the danger.

The player had his head in his hands after that moment, but he was immensely influential from there on out, providing 3 assists. The opening was for the opening goal as his pass set up Neto to score from outside the box. Shortly after the second half began, it was two as the forward's set-piece went straight in under Phillips's legs.

Tie Put Beyond Doubt and Focus Shifts

Soon after the second, the tie was put beyond doubt as a magnificent dribble from Delap laid on Estêvão to slide into an unguarded goal. The hat-trick hero then completed his treble as Delap once again delivered the crucial ball for the striker to calmly convert by a stranded Phillips.

At that point, the effort Hull had put in in the first thirty minutes had long since erased. Their priority must now switch back to achieving a promotion to the Premier League under Sergej Jakirovic, who left out several key players with that aim in mind.

"In my opinion we earned at least one goal but if we perform like this we will be in a very good position in the Championship," he said. "Keep fighting, maybe in the upcoming games this can be a positive example of how we should play."

There was plenty of endeavour to the end, and they nearly claimed a consolation when a substitute struck a the upright in stoppage time. But this was Chelsea’s evening, and another positive stride for their recently-appointed manager at a stadium he knows intimately.

Cup History Are Good

That resulted in an ultimately routine night's work, and the cup competition omens are good from here for the winners. They have played Hull on three previous occasions in this tournament in the past ten years and on each occasion, they have gone on to make the showpiece. Much still done in that regard, but this was another huge tick for Rosenior.