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Amid sleet, snow, and a swirling wind from the waters of the Humber Estuary, alongside a resolute home side pushing hard for promotion, this presented all the makings of a difficult night's work for Chelsea.

"We could have added to our tally but the opposition are a strong team and it was a difficult tie; I’m very pleased with the display," the manager stated. "Hull City is very special to me so it was nice to get a positive reception from the fans of fans. The application of the lads was superb."

The Chelsea manager holds this city dear to him, considering some of his relatives hail from Hull and his successful spell in management of the Tigers. His positive association continued with a magnificent performance from his squad, who in the end strolled into the next round of the famous old competition.

Clinical Edge Seals Comprehensive Victory

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

The manager made alterations, making multiple of them to his starting lineup. The match might and maybe ought to have been settled earlier than it eventually was, with both the Brazilian winger and the forward at fault for spurning excellent opportunities to put Chelsea in front in the first half.

However, fortunately for the visitors, their Portuguese attacker was in a far more clinical frame of mind. He opened the scoring with a spectacular distance strike, which acted as the spark for his team to assume control of proceedings. By full time, they had 4 goals, with the forward scoring three of them for a brilliant three-goal haul.

Delap's Response and Influence

The home side showed great fight throughout, but the better chances always came to the visitors. Estêvão ought to have broken the deadlock when he rounded goalkeeper Dillon Phillips before unbelievably firing over. Delap then had a similar nightmare incident in front of goal against his former club.

He blocked a the goalkeeper's kick which bounced back from the crossbar, and Delap started to celebrate thinking the ball had crossed the line. It hadn’t, and by the time he understood, Hull's backline had reacted to clear the threat.

The player had his head in his hands after that moment, but he was hugely influential from that point onward, registering 3 key passes. The opening was for the opening goal as his through ball teed up Neto to finish from outside the box. Six minutes after the second half began, it was 2-0 as the forward's set-piece went straight in under the keeper's legs.

Tie Sealed and Attention Turns

Seven minutes after Neto’s second goal, the match was put beyond doubt as a magnificent run from the forward laid on Estêvão to slide into an empty net. Neto then completed his treble as Delap once again played the decisive ball for the striker to coolly slot by a helpless goalkeeper.

At that point, the work Hull had done in the first thirty minutes had long since forgotten. Their priority must now switch back to securing a promotion to the top division under their manager, who left out a number of key individuals with that goal in mind.

"I think we deserved at least one goal but if we perform like this we will be in a very good position in the Championship," he said. "Keep fighting, maybe in the upcoming games this can be a positive lesson of how we must play."

There was plenty of effort to the end, and they nearly claimed a consolation when a substitute hit a post in stoppage time. But this was Chelsea’s evening, and another encouraging step forward for their new manager at a stadium he knows very well.

FA Cup Omens Are Promising

The result resulted in an ultimately straightforward night's performance, and the FA Cup-shaped signs are good from here for the winners. They have played Hull on three previous occasions in this competition in the past ten years and on each occasion, they have progressed to reach the final. Much still done in that respect, but this was another huge tick for the Chelsea boss.