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Against a backdrop of freezing rain, snow, and a biting breeze from the waters of the Humber, alongside a resolute Hull City side pushing hard for promotion, this presented all the ingredients of a difficult night's task for the visitors.

"We might have added to our tally but Hull are a strong team and it was a difficult fixture; I’m delighted with the display," the manager stated. "Hull City means a lot to me so it was great to get a positive welcome from both sets of supporters. The application of the lads was excellent."

Liam Chelsea manager has this place close to his heart, considering part of his relatives are from Hull and his enjoyable period in management of the Championship club. His positive association was extended with a magnificent performance from his team, who ultimately sauntered into the fifth round of the famous old competition.

Deadly Edge Seals Comfortable Win

Seventy-two hours after surrendering a two-goal advantage in the league, there was a hint of fragility about them going into this potentially tricky tie. The capacity home 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 tie could and maybe ought to have been decided earlier than it eventually was, with two Estêvão Willian and Liam Delap guilty of missing excellent opportunities to put Chelsea ahead in the opening period.

However, luckily for the away team, their Portuguese attacker was in a far more clinical frame of mind. He broke the deadlock with a spectacular distance effort, which acted as the spark for Chelsea to assume command of the match. By the final whistle, they had four, with Neto scoring three of them for a superb hat-trick.

Delap's Response and Impact

Hull displayed plenty of spirit all game, but the better opportunities always fell to the visitors. The winger should have broken the deadlock when he went past goalkeeper the Hull stopper before inexplicably shooting over. The striker then had a comparable horror moment in front of goal against his former club.

He blocked a Phillips's clearance which came off the bar, and Delap started to celebrate believing the ball had gone over the line. It had not, and by the time he understood, Hull's defenders had reacted to clear the danger.

The player had his head in his hands after that miss, but he was hugely instrumental from there on out, registering three key passes. The first was for the opening goal as his through ball set up his teammate to score from outside the box. Six minutes after the second half began, it was two as the forward's set-piece went directly in through the keeper's legs.

Tie Sealed and Focus Turns

Seven minutes after the second goal, the match was effectively ended as a magnificent run from Delap laid on Estêvão to tap into an empty net. Neto then finished his treble as Delap once again delivered the crucial ball for the striker to calmly slot by a stranded goalkeeper.

At that point, the effort Hull had put in in the opening thirty minutes had been forgotten. Their priority must now return to achieving a return to the Premier League under their manager, who rested a number of 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 very good position in the Championship," he said. "Never surrender, maybe in the next games this can be a good example of how we must play."

Hull showed plenty of effort to the final whistle, and they almost got a consolation when a substitute struck a the upright in injury time. But this was Chelsea’s night, and another encouraging step forward for their recently-appointed head coach at a stadium he is familiar with intimately.

Cup History Are Promising

That resulted in an in the end routine evening’s performance, and the cup competition signs are good from here for Chelsea. They have played Hull on three previous times in this tournament in the past ten years and every single time, they have gone on to make the final. Much remains to be work in that regard, but this was another huge positive for the Chelsea boss.