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Against a backdrop of freezing rain, flurries, and a swirling wind off the banks of the Humber Estuary, alongside a resolute Hull City side pushing hard for promotion, this had all the makings of a challenging night's task for Chelsea.

"We might have added to our tally but Hull are a good team and it was a difficult tie; I’m very pleased with the performance," he said. "This club means a lot to me so it was great to get a good welcome from both sets of supporters. The attitude of the lads was superb."

The Chelsea manager holds this city dear to him, given part of his family are from Hull and his enjoyable period in management of the Championship club. His positive association continued with a magnificent performance from his squad, who ultimately strolled into the next round of the famous old competition.

Clinical Edge Seals Comfortable Victory

Three days after letting slip a 2-0 advantage in the league, there was a hint of fragility about Chelsea going into this intriguing cup clash. The capacity Hull crowd evidently sensed it too, but the London side navigated the task perfectly.

The manager made alterations, enacting multiple of them to his XI. The tie could and maybe ought to have been decided earlier than it eventually was, with two the Brazilian winger and the forward guilty of spurning excellent opportunities to put their side in front in the first half.

But, fortunately for the visitors, Pedro Neto was in a far more clinical mood. He opened the deadlock with a marvellous long-range effort, which proved to be the spark for Chelsea to take control of proceedings. By the final whistle, they had four, with the forward netting three of them for a brilliant hat-trick.

Delap's Response and Impact

Hull displayed plenty of fight all game, but the better opportunities always fell to the visitors. Estêvão ought to have broken the scoring when he rounded goalkeeper the Hull stopper before unbelievably firing over. Delap then had a comparable nightmare moment in front of goal against his former club.

He blocked a the goalkeeper's kick which came back from the bar, and Delap began to celebrate thinking the ball had gone over the line. It hadn’t, and by the time he understood, Hull's backline had reacted to clear the danger.

The player had his head in his hands after that miss, but he was immensely instrumental from that point onward, providing three key passes. The first was for the opening goal as his pass teed up his teammate to finish from range. Six minutes after the restart, it was two as Neto's corner went directly in through the keeper's legs.

Contest Sealed and Focus Turns

Seven minutes after the second goal, the tie was effectively ended as a dazzling run from the forward teed up Estêvão to slide into an empty net. The hat-trick hero then completed his hat-trick as the provider once again played the decisive pass for the attacker to calmly convert past a stranded goalkeeper.

By that stage, the work Hull had put in in the opening thirty minutes had long since erased. Their priority must now return to securing a promotion to the Premier League under their manager, who left out several key individuals with that aim in mind.

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

Hull showed plenty of effort to the end, and they almost claimed a consolation when a substitute struck a the upright in stoppage time. But this was the Blues' night, and another positive stride for their recently-appointed head coach at a stadium he knows intimately.

Cup Omens Are Promising

That resulted in an ultimately straightforward night's work, and the FA Cup-shaped omens are positive from here for Chelsea. They have faced Hull on three other occasions in this competition in the past ten years and every single time, they have gone on to reach the final. There is still work in that respect, but this was another significant tick for the Chelsea boss.