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Amid freezing rain, flurries, and a swirling breeze from the waters of the Humber Estuary, combined with a resolute home side pushing hard for promotion, this had all the makings of a challenging evening’s task for the visitors.

"We might have scored more but the opposition are a good team and it was a difficult tie; I am delighted with the display," the manager stated. "Hull City means a lot to me so it was nice to get a good reception from both sets of supporters. The attitude of the players was superb."

Liam Chelsea manager holds this city dear to him, considering part of his relatives are from Hull and his successful spell in charge of the Tigers. This happy connection continued with a magnificent performance from his squad, who in the end strolled into the next round of the famous old competition.

Deadly Finishing Secures Comprehensive Win

Three days removed from letting slip a two-goal lead in the Premier League, there was a hint of vulnerability about Chelsea going into this potentially tricky tie. The packed home support clearly sensed it too, but the London side handled the task with ease.

The manager rang the changes, making seven of them to his XI. The tie could and maybe ought to have been settled long before it actually was, with two the Brazilian winger and Liam Delap guilty of spurning glorious chances to put their side ahead in the first half.

However, fortunately for the away team, their Portuguese attacker was in a far more clinical frame of mind. He opened the deadlock with a spectacular distance effort, which proved to be the spark for his team to take command of proceedings. By full time, they had four, with the forward netting three of them for a superb hat-trick.

Delap's Redemption and Impact

The home side showed great spirit throughout, but the clearer opportunities always fell Chelsea’s way. Estêvão should have broken the deadlock when he went past keeper Dillon Phillips before inexplicably shooting over. Delap then had a similar horror moment in front of goal against his former club.

He deflected a Phillips's kick which bounced off the crossbar, and he started to celebrate thinking the ball had crossed the line. It had not, and by the time he realised, Hull's backline had reacted to clear 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 teed up Neto to score from range. Six minutes after the second half began, it was 2-0 as the forward's corner went directly in through the keeper's legs.

Contest Sealed and Focus Turns

Seven minutes after Neto’s second goal, the tie was put beyond doubt as a magnificent dribble from Delap teed up Estêvão to tap into an unguarded goal. Neto then completed his treble as the provider once again delivered the decisive ball for the striker to calmly slot past a stranded Phillips.

At that point, the work Hull had done in the opening half-hour had been erased. Their priority must now return to securing a promotion to the top division under their manager, who rested several key players with that aim in mind.

"In my opinion we earned at least one goal but if we play like this we will be in a very good position 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."

Hull showed great endeavour to the end, and they nearly claimed a late goal when Lewis Koumas struck a post in injury time. But this was Chelsea’s evening, and another encouraging stride for their recently-appointed head coach at a stadium he knows intimately.

FA Cup Omens Are Promising

The result made for an in the end straightforward evening’s performance, and the cup competition omens are good from here for the winners. They have faced Hull on three previous times in this tournament in the last decade and every single time, they have gone on to reach the showpiece. Much remains to be done in that respect, but this was another huge positive for the Chelsea boss.