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Amid freezing rain, snow, and a swirling breeze from the waters of the Humber, alongside a determined home side fighting for a top-flight place, this presented all the ingredients 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 tie; I am very pleased with the performance," the manager stated. "This club means a lot to me so it was great to get a good welcome from the fans of supporters. The attitude of the lads was superb."

The Chelsea manager has this place close to his heart, given part of his relatives are from Hull and his successful spell in charge of the Tigers. His happy association was extended with a magnificent performance from his team, who in the end sauntered into the next round of the famous old competition.

Deadly Finishing Seals Comprehensive Win

Seventy-two hours removed from surrendering a two-goal lead in the league, there was a sniff of vulnerability about them going into this potentially tricky cup clash. The packed Hull support clearly sensed it too, but the London side handled the task perfectly.

The manager rang the changes, making seven of them to his XI. The match might and perhaps should have been settled earlier than it eventually was, with both the Brazilian winger and Liam Delap at fault for spurning glorious chances to put Chelsea in front in the first half.

But, luckily for the visitors, their Portuguese attacker was in a much more ruthless mood. He opened the deadlock with a spectacular distance effort, which proved to be the spark for Chelsea to assume command of proceedings. By full time, they had four, with Neto scoring three of them for a brilliant three-goal haul.

The Forward's Response and Influence

The home side displayed great fight throughout, but the clearer opportunities always came to the visitors. Estêvão ought to have broken the deadlock when he went past goalkeeper Dillon Phillips before inexplicably firing over. The striker then had a similar horror moment in front of goal against his former club.

He deflected a Phillips's clearance which came off the crossbar, and Delap began to run away believing the ball had crossed the line. It hadn’t, and by the time he realised, Hull's backline had reacted to avert the danger.

The player had his head in his hands after that moment, but he was immensely instrumental from that point onward, providing 3 key passes. The first was for the opening goal as his through ball set up Neto to score from range. Shortly after the second half began, it was two as the forward's set-piece went straight in through Phillips's legs.

Contest Put Beyond Doubt and Attention Turns

Soon after the second, the tie was put beyond doubt as a dazzling dribble from Delap teed up Estêvão to slide into an unguarded goal. Neto then finished his hat-trick as Delap once again delivered the decisive pass for the attacker to coolly convert by a helpless Phillips.

By that stage, the work Hull had put in in the opening half-hour had been erased. Their priority must now return to securing a return to the Premier League under Sergej Jakirovic, who left out a number of first-choice 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 strong situation in the Championship," the Hull manager commented. "Never surrender, maybe in the next matches this can be a positive example of how we should play."

There was great effort to the end, and they nearly got a consolation when a substitute struck a the upright in injury time. But this was Chelsea’s evening, and another encouraging stride for their new manager at a place he is familiar with intimately.

Cup Omens Look Promising

That made for an in the end straightforward night's performance, and the FA Cup-shaped omens are good from here for the winners. They have played Hull on three previous occasions in this tournament in the past ten years and every single time, they have gone on to make the final. There is remains to be done in that regard, but this was another huge tick for the Chelsea boss.