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Amid freezing rain, snow, and a swirling breeze off the waters of the Humber Estuary, alongside a resolute Hull City side pushing hard for promotion, this presented all the makings of a challenging evening’s work for Chelsea.

"We could have added to our tally but Hull are a good team and it was a tough tie; I am very pleased with the performance," the manager stated. "This club means a lot to me so it was nice to get a positive welcome from the fans of supporters. The attitude of the players was superb."

The Rosenior holds this place dear to him, considering some of his family are from Hull and his enjoyable period in charge of the Tigers. His positive association continued with a commanding display from his team, who ultimately strolled into the next round of the famous old competition.

Clinical Edge Secures Comfortable Win

Three days removed from letting slip a two-goal advantage in the Premier League, there was a sniff of vulnerability about them going into this potentially tricky tie. The capacity home crowd clearly sensed it too, but the London side handled the task with ease.

The manager rang the changes, enacting seven of them to his starting lineup. The match could and maybe should have been decided earlier than it actually was, with both Estêvão Willian and Liam Delap at fault for spurning glorious chances to put their side in front in the first half.

However, fortunately for the visitors, Pedro Neto was in a far more ruthless frame of mind. He opened the deadlock with a marvellous distance effort, which acted as the catalyst for Chelsea to assume control of the match. By full time, they had four, with the forward netting a trio of them for a superb three-goal haul.

Delap's Redemption and Influence

The home side displayed great spirit throughout, but the better chances always fell Chelsea’s way. Estêvão ought to have opened the scoring when he rounded goalkeeper Dillon Phillips before inexplicably shooting over. The striker then had a similar nightmare moment in front of goal against his old team.

He blocked a the goalkeeper's kick which bounced off the bar, and Delap began to run away thinking the ball had gone over the line. It had not, and by the time he realised, Hull's backline had responded to avert the danger.

The player had his head in his hands after that moment, but he was immensely influential from that point onward, providing 3 key passes. The first was for the opening goal as his pass set up his teammate to score from outside the box. Shortly after the second half began, it was two as the forward's set-piece went directly in under the keeper's legs.

Contest Sealed and Attention Turns

Seven minutes after the second, the tie was put beyond doubt as a magnificent dribble from the forward laid on his teammate to slide into an empty net. The hat-trick hero then finished his treble as the provider once again played the decisive pass for the attacker to coolly slot by a stranded Phillips.

At that point, the work Hull had put in in the first half-hour had been erased. Their focus must now return to achieving a return to the Premier League under their manager, who left out a number of first-choice players with that goal in mind.

"I think we deserved at least one goal but if we play like this we will be in a very good situation in the league," the Hull manager commented. "Keep fighting, maybe in the next games 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 hit a post in stoppage time. But this was Chelsea’s evening, and another positive step forward for their new manager at a stadium he knows intimately.

Cup Omens Look Promising

The result made for an in the end straightforward night's work, and the cup competition signs are good from here for the winners. They have faced Hull on three previous occasions in this competition in the past ten years and on each occasion, they have progressed to reach the showpiece. There is still work in that respect, but this was another significant positive for Rosenior.