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Amid freezing rain, flurries, and a swirling breeze off the banks of the Humber Estuary, combined with a resolute home side fighting for a top-flight place, this had all the makings of a challenging night's work for Chelsea.

"We could have added to our tally but the opposition are a strong team and it was a difficult tie; I am delighted with the display," he said. "Hull City is very special to me so it was nice to get a good welcome from the fans of fans. The application of the players was superb."

Liam Rosenior holds this place close to his heart, considering part of his relatives hail from Hull and his enjoyable spell in charge of the Championship club. This happy connection was extended with a commanding performance from his team, who in the end strolled into the next round of the famous old competition.

Deadly Finishing Seals Comfortable Win

Three days after surrendering a 2-0 advantage in the league, there was a sniff of fragility about them going into this potentially tricky tie. The capacity Hull support clearly felt it too, but Rosenior's men handled the challenge with ease.

The manager made alterations, making multiple of them to his XI. The tie might and maybe ought to have been decided long before it eventually was, with two Estêvão Willian and Liam Delap at fault for spurning excellent opportunities to put their side in front in the first half.

However, luckily for the away team, Pedro Neto was in a far more clinical mood. He opened the scoring with a spectacular long-range effort, which acted as the spark for Chelsea to take command of proceedings. By the final whistle, they had four, with Neto scoring three of them for a superb three-goal haul.

The Forward's Redemption and Impact

The home side displayed plenty of fight throughout, but the clearer opportunities consistently came to the visitors. The winger should have opened the deadlock when he rounded goalkeeper the Hull stopper before unbelievably firing over. Delap then had a comparable horror incident in front of goal against his former club.

He blocked a Phillips's kick which came back from the bar, and he started to celebrate thinking the ball had crossed the line. It had not, and by the time he understood, Hull's backline had responded to clear the threat.

The player had his head in his hands after that miss, but he was hugely instrumental from that point onward, providing three key passes. The opening was for the opening goal as his through ball teed up Neto to finish 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 Attention Shifts

Seven minutes after the second goal, the tie was effectively ended as a magnificent dribble from the forward teed up Estêvão to slide into an empty net. Neto then completed his hat-trick as Delap once again played the crucial pass for the striker to coolly convert by a helpless Phillips.

At that point, the effort Hull had put in in the first thirty minutes had been forgotten. Their focus must now return to securing a promotion to the top division under Sergej Jakirovic, who left out several first-choice individuals with that aim in mind.

"In my opinion we earned at least one goal but if we play like this we will be in a very good situation in the league," he said. "Never surrender, maybe in the upcoming games this can be a good example of how we must play."

There was plenty of effort to the end, and they almost got a consolation when a substitute struck a the upright in injury time. But this was Chelsea’s evening, and another positive stride for their new head coach at a stadium he is familiar with intimately.

Cup History Are Good

That resulted in an ultimately straightforward evening’s work, and the cup competition omens are good from here for Chelsea. They have faced Hull on three previous times in this competition in the last decade and every single time, they have gone on to make the final. There is still done in that respect, but this was another significant tick for the Chelsea boss.