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

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

The Chelsea manager holds this city dear to him, given some of his relatives are from Hull and his enjoyable spell in charge of the Championship club. His happy connection was extended with a magnificent performance from his squad, who in the end strolled into the next round of the famous old competition.

Clinical Finishing Seals Comfortable Victory

Three days removed from surrendering a 2-0 lead in the Premier League, there was a sniff of fragility about them going into this potentially tricky cup clash. The capacity home support evidently felt it too, but Rosenior's men handled the task with ease.

Rosenior made alterations, making seven of them to his XI. The tie might and maybe should have been settled long before it eventually was, with both the Brazilian winger and Liam Delap guilty of spurning glorious opportunities to put Chelsea in front in the opening period.

But, luckily for the away team, their Portuguese attacker was in a far more ruthless mood. He opened the deadlock with a spectacular distance strike, which acted as the catalyst for his team to take control of proceedings. By full time, they had four, with Neto scoring a trio of them for a superb hat-trick.

The Forward's Response and Impact

The home side displayed plenty of fight all game, but the better chances always fell to the visitors. The winger should have broken the deadlock when he rounded goalkeeper Dillon Phillips before unbelievably firing over. Delap then had a comparable horror moment in front of goal against his old team.

He deflected a the goalkeeper's clearance which came back from the crossbar, and he began to run away thinking the ball had crossed the line. It had not, and by the time he realised, Hull's backline had reacted to avert the threat.

The player had his head in his hands after that miss, but he was hugely influential from there on out, registering 3 key passes. The opening was for the opening goal as his pass teed up Neto to score from outside the box. Six minutes after the restart, it was two as Neto's corner went directly in under Phillips's legs.

Contest Sealed and Focus Shifts

Seven minutes after Neto’s second goal, the match was put beyond doubt as a magnificent run from Delap laid on his teammate to slide into an empty net. Neto then finished his treble as the provider again delivered the decisive ball for the attacker to calmly convert by a stranded Phillips.

By that stage, the effort Hull had done in the first thirty minutes had long since forgotten. Their focus must now switch back to securing a promotion to the Premier League under their manager, who rested several first-choice individuals with that goal in mind.

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

There was great endeavour to the final whistle, and they almost claimed a late goal when Lewis Koumas struck a the upright in stoppage time. But this was the Blues' evening, and another encouraging step forward for their new head coach at a place he knows very well.

Cup History Are Good

That made for an in the end straightforward evening’s work, and the cup competition omens are positive from here for Chelsea. They have played 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 done in that regard, but this was another huge positive for Rosenior.