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Amid freezing rain, snow, and a biting breeze from the waters of the Humber, alongside a resolute home side fighting for promotion, this presented all the makings of a challenging night's task for the visitors.

"We might have added to our tally but the opposition are a good team and it was a tough tie; I’m delighted with the performance," he said. "Hull City is very special to me so it was great to get a positive reception from the fans of fans. The attitude of the lads was excellent."

Liam Chelsea manager holds this place close to his heart, given part of his relatives hail from Hull and his enjoyable period in management of the Tigers. His positive connection continued with a commanding performance from his team, who in the end sauntered into the next round of the famous old competition.

Deadly Edge Secures Comfortable Victory

Three days after letting slip a two-goal advantage in the league, there was a hint of fragility about Chelsea going into this potentially tricky tie. The packed home support evidently felt it too, but the London side navigated the task perfectly.

Rosenior rang the changes, enacting multiple of them to his starting lineup. The tie could and maybe ought to have been settled earlier than it actually was, with both the Brazilian winger and Liam Delap guilty of missing glorious opportunities to put their side ahead in the first half.

But, luckily for the visitors, their Portuguese attacker was in a far more clinical frame of mind. He broke the deadlock with a spectacular long-range strike, which acted as the spark for Chelsea to assume command of proceedings. By the final whistle, they had four, with Neto netting a trio of them for a brilliant three-goal haul.

The Forward's Response and Influence

The home side showed great fight all game, but the better opportunities consistently came Chelsea’s way. Estêvão should have opened the deadlock when he went past goalkeeper Dillon Phillips before unbelievably shooting over. The striker then had a similar horror incident in front of goal against his old team.

He blocked a Phillips's kick which bounced back from the crossbar, and Delap started to celebrate believing the ball had crossed the line. It hadn’t, 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 three assists. The opening was for the opening goal as his pass set up his teammate to finish from outside the box. Six minutes after the restart, it was 2-0 as the forward's set-piece went straight in through the keeper's legs.

Contest Sealed and Attention Turns

Soon after Neto’s second goal, the match was effectively ended as a dazzling dribble from Delap teed up his teammate to tap into an empty net. The hat-trick hero then finished his hat-trick as the provider once again played the crucial pass for the striker to calmly convert past a helpless Phillips.

At that point, the work Hull had done in the opening thirty minutes had long since erased. Their priority must now return to securing a promotion to the Premier League under Sergej Jakirovic, who rested several first-choice players with that goal in mind.

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

Hull showed great endeavour to the end, 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 positive step forward for their new manager at a stadium he is familiar with intimately.

Cup Omens Look Promising

That made for an in the end straightforward evening’s work, and the cup competition omens are good from here for Chelsea. They have faced Hull on three other times in this competition in the past ten years and on each occasion, they have gone on to reach the showpiece. There is still work in that respect, but this was another significant positive for Rosenior.