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Against a backdrop of freezing rain, snow, and a biting wind from the waters of the Humber, alongside a determined Hull City side pushing hard for promotion, this had all the ingredients of a challenging evening’s task for the visitors.

"We might have scored more but Hull are a strong team and it was a tough tie; I’m very pleased with the display," he said. "Hull City means a lot to me so it was nice to get a good reception from the fans of supporters. The application of the lads was excellent."

Liam Chelsea manager has this place dear to him, given some of his family hail from Hull and his successful spell in management of the Tigers. His happy association was extended with a commanding performance from his team, who ultimately strolled into the next round of the famous old competition.

Clinical Finishing Secures Comfortable Victory

Seventy-two hours after surrendering a 2-0 advantage in the Premier League, there was a sniff of vulnerability about Chelsea going into this potentially tricky cup clash. The packed Hull support evidently felt it too, but the London side handled the task with ease.

Rosenior made alterations, enacting multiple of them to his starting lineup. The tie might and perhaps ought to have been decided long before it eventually was, with both Estêvão Willian and Liam Delap guilty of missing excellent opportunities to put Chelsea in front in the first half.

But, fortunately for the visitors, their Portuguese attacker was in a far more clinical frame of mind. He opened the deadlock with a spectacular long-range effort, which proved to be the spark for his team to assume control of proceedings. By the final whistle, they had four, with the forward scoring three of them for a brilliant three-goal haul.

The Forward's Response and Influence

The home side displayed plenty of spirit throughout, but the better chances consistently fell Chelsea’s way. The winger ought to have opened the scoring when he went past goalkeeper the Hull stopper before unbelievably shooting over. The striker then had a comparable nightmare moment in front of goal against his former club.

He blocked a the goalkeeper's kick which bounced back from the bar, and he started to celebrate believing the ball had gone over the line. It had not, and by the time he realised, Hull's backline had responded to avert the threat.

Delap had his head in his hands after that moment, but he was hugely influential from that point onward, registering three key passes. The opening was for the first goal as his through ball teed up his teammate to score from range. Shortly after the restart, it was two as the forward's corner went straight in through Phillips's legs.

Contest Sealed and Attention Shifts

Soon after Neto’s second goal, the tie was put beyond doubt as a dazzling dribble from the forward teed up Estêvão to tap into an unguarded goal. Neto then finished his hat-trick as the provider once again delivered the decisive pass for the attacker to calmly slot past a stranded goalkeeper.

By that stage, the work Hull had put in in the first half-hour had been erased. Their priority must now switch back to achieving a return to the Premier League under Sergej Jakirovic, who rested several first-choice players with that goal in mind.

"I think we earned at least one goal but if we play like this we will be in a strong position in the Championship," he said. "Keep fighting, maybe in the next matches this can be a good lesson of how we should play."

Hull showed great endeavour to the final whistle, and they nearly got a late goal when a substitute hit a post in stoppage time. But this was the Blues' night, and another encouraging step forward for their recently-appointed manager at a stadium he is familiar with intimately.

Cup History Look Good

That resulted in an in the end routine night's performance, and the cup competition omens are positive from here for Chelsea. They have faced Hull on three previous occasions in this competition in the last decade and every single time, they have progressed to reach the showpiece. There is remains to be done in that respect, but this was another significant tick for the Chelsea boss.