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Against a backdrop of freezing rain, snow, and a biting wind off the waters of the Humber Estuary, combined with a determined Hull City side fighting for a top-flight place, this presented all the ingredients of a difficult night's work for Chelsea.

"We might have scored more but Hull are a good team and it was a tough fixture; I’m delighted with the performance," he said. "Hull City means a lot to me so it was nice to get a positive reception from the fans of fans. The application of the players was excellent."

The Chelsea manager has this place close to his heart, given some of his relatives hail from Hull and his successful spell in management of the Championship club. This happy connection was extended with a magnificent display from his squad, who ultimately strolled into the next round of the FA Cup.

Deadly Edge Secures Comprehensive Win

Three days after letting slip a 2-0 advantage in the league, there was a hint of vulnerability about them going into this intriguing cup clash. The packed home support evidently felt it too, but the London side navigated the task perfectly.

The manager rang the changes, enacting seven of them to his XI. The tie could and perhaps ought to have been decided long before it eventually was, with both the Brazilian winger and Liam Delap guilty of missing excellent chances to put their side ahead in the opening period.

However, luckily for the away team, Pedro Neto was in a far more clinical mood. He broke the deadlock with a marvellous long-range strike, which acted as the spark for Chelsea to take control of the match. By the final whistle, they had 4 goals, with Neto scoring three of them for a superb three-goal haul.

The Forward's Redemption and Influence

Hull displayed plenty of fight all game, but the better chances consistently fell to the visitors. Estêvão should have opened the deadlock when he went past keeper the Hull stopper before inexplicably shooting over. The striker then had a similar nightmare incident in front of goal against his former club.

He blocked a the goalkeeper's clearance which came off the crossbar, and Delap began to celebrate believing the ball had gone over the line. It had not, and by the time he realised, Hull's defenders had reacted to avert the threat.

The player had his head in his hands after that miss, but he was hugely influential from there on out, registering 3 assists. The opening was for the first goal as his pass set up Neto to score from outside the box. Six minutes after the second half began, it was two as Neto's corner went directly in under Phillips's legs.

Contest Sealed and Focus Shifts

Soon after Neto’s second goal, the match was put beyond doubt as a dazzling dribble from Delap laid on his teammate to slide into an empty net. The hat-trick hero then finished his treble as the provider once again delivered the crucial pass for the attacker to calmly convert past a stranded goalkeeper.

At that point, the effort Hull had done in the first half-hour had been erased. Their priority must now return to securing a return to the Premier League under their manager, who rested a number of first-choice players with that aim in mind.

"I think we deserved at least one goal but if we play like this we will be in a strong position in the Championship," the Hull manager commented. "Never surrender, maybe in the next matches this can be a good lesson of how we must play."

There was plenty of endeavour to the end, and they nearly got a consolation when Lewis Koumas struck a the upright in stoppage time. But this was the Blues' evening, and another encouraging step forward for their new head coach at a place he knows very well.

FA Cup History Look Good

That resulted in an in the end straightforward evening’s performance, and the FA Cup-shaped signs are positive from here for Chelsea. They have faced Hull on three other occasions in this tournament in the last decade and every single time, they have gone on to make the final. There is remains to be work in that regard, but this was another significant positive for the Chelsea boss.