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Against a backdrop of freezing rain, snow, and a biting breeze off the banks of the Humber Estuary, combined with a determined Hull City side pushing hard for promotion, this presented all the makings of a challenging night's work for Chelsea.

"We could have scored more but Hull are a good team and it was a tough fixture; I am delighted with the performance," he said. "Hull City means a lot to me so it was nice to get a good welcome from both sets of fans. The attitude of the lads was superb."

The Chelsea manager has this place dear to him, given some of his family are from Hull and his enjoyable spell in management of the Championship club. His happy connection was extended with a magnificent performance from his squad, who in the end strolled into the fifth round of the FA Cup.

Clinical Edge Seals Comfortable Victory

Seventy-two hours removed from letting slip a two-goal lead in the Premier League, there was a sniff of fragility about them going into this potentially tricky cup clash. The capacity home crowd evidently sensed it too, but the London side navigated the task with ease.

The manager made alterations, enacting seven of them to his XI. The tie might and maybe ought to have been decided long before it eventually was, with both the Brazilian winger and Liam Delap guilty of missing glorious chances to put their side in front in the opening period.

However, luckily for the away team, their Portuguese attacker was in a much more ruthless mood. He opened the deadlock with a marvellous distance effort, which proved to be the spark for Chelsea to take command of the match. By full time, they had 4 goals, with the forward scoring a trio of them for a superb three-goal haul.

Delap's Redemption and Influence

Hull showed great fight throughout, but the better opportunities always came to the visitors. The winger should have broken the deadlock when he went past goalkeeper Dillon Phillips before unbelievably firing over. The striker then had a comparable horror incident in front of goal against his old team.

He blocked a the goalkeeper's clearance which came back from the bar, and he started to run away thinking the ball had crossed the line. It had not, and by the time he understood, Hull's backline had responded to clear the threat.

The player had his head in his hands after that miss, but he was hugely influential from that point onward, providing 3 assists. The opening was for the first goal as his pass set up Neto to finish from outside the box. Shortly after the second half began, it was two as the forward's set-piece went directly in through Phillips's legs.

Contest Sealed and Focus Shifts

Seven minutes after Neto’s second goal, the tie was effectively ended as a magnificent dribble from the forward laid on Estêvão to slide into an empty net. Neto then completed his hat-trick as Delap again played the crucial pass for the attacker to coolly convert by a helpless goalkeeper.

At that point, the work Hull had done in the first half-hour had long since forgotten. Their priority must now return to securing a return to the Premier League under Sergej Jakirovic, who rested several key individuals with that aim 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 Championship," he said. "Never surrender, maybe in the upcoming games this can be a good example of how we should play."

Hull showed great endeavour to the end, and they almost got a late goal when a substitute struck a the upright in injury time. But this was the Blues' evening, and another positive step forward for their recently-appointed manager at a stadium he knows intimately.

Cup Omens Look Good

The result made for an in the end straightforward night's work, and the FA Cup-shaped signs are positive from here for Chelsea. They have played Hull on three previous occasions in this competition in the last decade and every single time, they have progressed to reach the final. There is remains to be work in that respect, but this was another significant tick for the Chelsea boss.