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

"We could have scored more but the opposition are a strong team and it was a difficult tie; I am very pleased with the performance," he said. "Hull City is very special to me so it was nice to get a positive reception from the fans of supporters. The attitude of the players was superb."

Liam Rosenior holds this city close to his heart, given part of his family are from Hull and his successful spell in management of the Championship club. This positive connection continued with a commanding display from his squad, who ultimately strolled into the next round of the famous old competition.

Clinical Finishing Secures Comfortable Win

Three days removed from letting slip a 2-0 advantage in the Premier League, there was a sniff of vulnerability about Chelsea going into this intriguing cup clash. The packed Hull support clearly sensed it too, but the London side navigated the challenge with ease.

Rosenior made alterations, making multiple of them to his XI. The tie could and maybe ought to have been decided earlier than it actually was, with both the Brazilian winger and Liam Delap at fault for spurning excellent chances to put Chelsea ahead in the first half.

However, fortunately for the away team, their Portuguese attacker was in a much more ruthless mood. He opened the scoring with a spectacular long-range strike, which proved to be the catalyst for his team to take control of proceedings. By the final whistle, they had four, with Neto scoring a trio of them for a superb three-goal haul.

Delap's Redemption and Impact

The home side showed great spirit throughout, but the better opportunities always fell Chelsea’s way. The winger ought to have opened the deadlock when he went past keeper the Hull stopper before unbelievably firing over. Delap then had a comparable nightmare incident in front of goal against his former club.

He blocked a the goalkeeper's clearance which bounced off the crossbar, and Delap began to run away believing the ball had crossed the line. It had not, and by the time he understood, Hull's defenders had responded to clear the threat.

Delap had his head in his hands after that moment, but he was hugely influential from there on out, registering 3 key passes. The opening was for the opening goal as his pass set up his teammate to score from range. Shortly after the restart, it was two as the forward's set-piece went straight in through the keeper's legs.

Contest Put Beyond Doubt and Attention Turns

Seven minutes after Neto’s second goal, the match was put beyond doubt as a magnificent dribble from Delap teed up Estêvão to tap into an empty net. Neto then completed his treble as Delap again played the crucial ball for the attacker to calmly convert by a stranded Phillips.

By that stage, the effort Hull had done in the opening half-hour had been erased. Their focus must now return to achieving a return to the top division under their manager, who rested several key players with that goal in mind.

"In my opinion we earned at least one goal but if we perform like this we will be in a strong situation in the league," the Hull manager commented. "Keep fighting, maybe in the upcoming games this can be a positive example of how we should play."

Hull showed plenty of effort to the end, and they nearly got a late goal when a substitute struck a post in stoppage time. But this was the Blues' night, and another encouraging step forward for their new head coach at a place he knows intimately.

Cup History Look Promising

The result resulted in an in the end routine evening’s performance, and the cup competition signs are good from here for Chelsea. They have faced Hull on three other occasions in this competition in the past ten years and on each occasion, they have progressed to reach the final. Much remains to be work in that regard, but this was another significant positive for the Chelsea boss.