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Amid freezing rain, flurries, and a biting breeze from the waters of the Humber, combined with a resolute home side pushing hard for promotion, this had all the ingredients of a challenging night's work for the visitors.

"We might have scored more but the opposition are a strong team and it was a difficult fixture; I’m delighted with the performance," he said. "Hull City 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 holds this place dear to him, given part of his family hail from Hull and his successful period in management of the Tigers. His happy association was extended with a magnificent display from his team, who in the end sauntered into the next round of the famous old competition.

Deadly Finishing Seals Comprehensive Victory

Seventy-two hours removed from surrendering 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 evidently sensed it too, but the London side handled the challenge with ease.

The manager rang the changes, making multiple of them to his XI. The match might and perhaps ought to have been decided earlier than it actually was, with both Estêvão Willian and the forward guilty of missing excellent chances to put their side in front in the opening period.

However, luckily for the away team, Pedro Neto was in a far more ruthless mood. He broke the deadlock with a marvellous long-range strike, which proved to be the spark for Chelsea to take command of the match. By full time, they had four, with Neto netting three of them for a brilliant hat-trick.

Delap's Response and Impact

Hull displayed great spirit throughout, but the clearer opportunities consistently came Chelsea’s way. The winger should have broken the scoring when he went past goalkeeper the Hull stopper before inexplicably firing over. Delap then had a comparable horror incident in front of goal against his former club.

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

Delap had his head in his hands after that miss, but he was immensely instrumental from that point onward, providing 3 key passes. The opening was for the first goal as his through ball teed up his teammate to finish from range. Six minutes after the second half began, it was 2-0 as Neto's set-piece went directly in through Phillips's legs.

Contest Sealed and Attention Shifts

Seven minutes after Neto’s second, the match was effectively ended as a magnificent run from Delap teed up Estêvão to tap into an unguarded goal. The hat-trick hero then completed his treble as Delap again delivered the crucial pass for the striker to coolly convert past a stranded goalkeeper.

By that stage, the work Hull had put in in the opening half-hour had been erased. Their focus must now switch back to securing a return to the top division under their manager, who left out several key 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 very good situation in the league," the Hull manager commented. "Never surrender, maybe in the next games this can be a positive example of how we should play."

Hull showed great effort to the end, and they almost claimed a late goal when a substitute hit a the upright in injury time. But this was the Blues' night, and another positive step forward for their recently-appointed manager at a place he is familiar with very well.

FA Cup Omens Are Good

That resulted in an in the end straightforward evening’s performance, and the FA Cup-shaped signs are good from here for Chelsea. They have faced Hull on three previous occasions in this tournament in the last decade and on each occasion, they have gone on to make the showpiece. Much remains to be done in that regard, but this was another significant tick for the Chelsea boss.