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Against a backdrop of freezing rain, flurries, and a swirling wind off the waters of the Humber, combined with a determined home side pushing hard for promotion, this had all the makings of a challenging evening’s work for Chelsea.

"We could have added to our tally but Hull are a strong team and it was a tough fixture; I’m delighted with the display," he said. "This club is very special to me so it was great to get a good welcome from the fans of supporters. The attitude of the players was excellent."

The Chelsea manager has this city dear to him, considering some of his relatives are from Hull and his enjoyable spell in management of the Championship club. This positive association continued with a commanding display from his team, who ultimately sauntered into the fifth round of the FA Cup.

Clinical Finishing Secures Comfortable Win

Three days removed from letting slip a two-goal advantage in the Premier League, there was a sniff of fragility about Chelsea going into this intriguing tie. The capacity home support clearly sensed it too, but the London side navigated the task perfectly.

The manager made alterations, enacting seven of them to his starting lineup. The tie might and maybe ought to have been decided earlier than it actually was, with both Estêvão Willian and Liam Delap guilty of spurning glorious chances to put their side ahead in the first half.

However, luckily for the away team, Pedro Neto was in a much more clinical frame of mind. He opened the deadlock with a spectacular long-range strike, which proved to be the spark for Chelsea to assume control of the match. By full time, they had 4 goals, with Neto netting a trio of them for a brilliant hat-trick.

Delap's Response and Impact

Hull displayed plenty of spirit all game, but the clearer opportunities always fell to the visitors. Estêvão ought to have broken the deadlock when he went past goalkeeper the Hull stopper before unbelievably firing over. The striker then had a comparable horror moment in front of goal against his old team.

He blocked a Phillips's kick which came back from the bar, and he started to celebrate believing the ball had gone over the line. It hadn’t, and by the time he realised, Hull's defenders had responded to avert the danger.

Delap had his head in his hands after that moment, but he was hugely influential from that point onward, providing three assists. The first was for the opening goal as his pass set up Neto to finish from range. Six minutes after the restart, it was 2-0 as Neto's set-piece went straight in under the keeper's legs.

Contest Put Beyond Doubt and Focus Turns

Soon after the second, the tie was effectively ended as a magnificent dribble from Delap teed up Estêvão to tap into an empty net. The hat-trick hero then completed his hat-trick as the provider once again delivered the decisive pass for the striker to coolly convert by a stranded goalkeeper.

At that point, the effort Hull had put in in the opening thirty minutes had long since erased. Their focus must now return to securing a promotion to the Premier League under Sergej Jakirovic, who left out a number of 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 next games this can be a positive example of how we should play."

There was great endeavour to the final whistle, and they almost claimed a consolation when Lewis Koumas struck a post in injury time. But this was the Blues' evening, and another encouraging step forward for their recently-appointed head coach at a stadium he is familiar with intimately.

Cup Omens Are Promising

That resulted in an ultimately straightforward evening’s work, and the FA Cup-shaped signs are positive from here for the winners. 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 make the showpiece. There is remains to be done in that regard, but this was another huge tick for the Chelsea boss.