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Against a backdrop of freezing rain, flurries, and a swirling breeze from the banks of the Humber, alongside a resolute home side pushing hard for promotion, this presented all the makings of a challenging night's work for the visitors.

"We might have scored more but the opposition are a good team and it was a difficult fixture; I am very pleased with the display," he said. "Hull City means a lot to me so it was nice to get a good reception from both sets of supporters. The application of the players was superb."

The Chelsea manager has this city close to his heart, given some of his relatives hail from Hull and his enjoyable spell in charge of the Tigers. His happy connection was extended with a magnificent display from his team, who in the end strolled into the next round of the FA Cup.

Clinical Edge Seals Comprehensive Victory

Seventy-two hours removed from letting slip a 2-0 lead in the Premier League, there was a sniff of vulnerability about Chelsea going into this intriguing tie. The capacity Hull crowd evidently felt it too, but the London side navigated the challenge perfectly.

The manager rang the changes, enacting multiple of them to his starting lineup. The tie might and maybe should have been settled earlier than it eventually was, with two Estêvão Willian and Liam Delap at fault for spurning glorious chances to put their side ahead in the opening period.

But, fortunately for the away team, Pedro Neto was in a far more clinical frame of mind. He opened the scoring with a marvellous distance strike, which proved to be the spark for his team to assume control of proceedings. By the final whistle, they had 4 goals, with the forward scoring three of them for a superb three-goal haul.

Delap's Response and Impact

The home side showed great fight all game, but the clearer chances always came Chelsea’s way. The winger ought to have broken the scoring when he rounded goalkeeper Dillon Phillips before inexplicably shooting over. Delap then had a comparable nightmare moment in front of goal against his former club.

He deflected a the goalkeeper's clearance which bounced off the crossbar, and Delap began to run away believing the ball had crossed the line. It hadn’t, and by the time he understood, Hull's backline had responded to clear the threat.

Delap had his head in his hands after that miss, but he was hugely influential from that point onward, registering three key passes. The opening was for the first goal as his pass set up Neto to finish from outside the box. Shortly after the second half began, it was two as the forward's set-piece went straight in through the keeper's legs.

Contest Put Beyond Doubt and Focus Shifts

Seven minutes after Neto’s second goal, the match was effectively ended as a magnificent dribble from the forward teed up Estêvão to tap into an unguarded goal. Neto then completed his hat-trick as the provider again played the decisive ball for the attacker to calmly slot by a helpless goalkeeper.

By that stage, the work Hull had put in in the first half-hour had long since erased. Their priority must now return to securing a return to the Premier League under Sergej Jakirovic, who left out several key individuals with that goal in mind.

"I think we earned at least one goal but if we perform like this we will be in a strong situation in the league," the Hull manager commented. "Keep fighting, maybe in the upcoming matches this can be a good example of how we must play."

There was great endeavour to the end, and they nearly got a late goal when a substitute struck a post in stoppage time. But this was Chelsea’s evening, and another encouraging step forward for their recently-appointed manager at a place he knows intimately.

FA Cup Omens Look Promising

That made for an ultimately straightforward evening’s work, and the FA Cup-shaped signs are positive from here for the winners. They have faced Hull on three other occasions in this competition in the last decade and every single time, they have gone on to make the showpiece. There is remains to be done in that respect, but this was another huge positive for the Chelsea boss.