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Amid sleet, snow, and a biting wind off the waters of the Humber Estuary, alongside a resolute home side pushing hard for a top-flight place, this presented all the makings of a difficult evening’s task for Chelsea.

"We could have added to our tally but the opposition are a strong team and it was a tough fixture; I’m delighted with the display," he said. "This club means a lot to me so it was great to get a good reception from the fans of fans. The application of the players was excellent."

Liam Chelsea manager holds this place dear to him, considering part of his family hail from Hull and his successful period in management of the Championship club. This positive connection was extended with a magnificent performance from his squad, who ultimately strolled into the fifth round of the famous old competition.

Clinical Finishing Secures Comprehensive Win

Three days after surrendering a 2-0 lead in the league, there was a hint of vulnerability about them going into this intriguing cup clash. The packed Hull support clearly felt it too, but the London side handled the challenge with ease.

The manager rang the changes, enacting multiple of them to his starting lineup. The match might and perhaps should have been decided earlier than it eventually was, with both the Brazilian winger and the forward guilty of spurning excellent chances to put their side in front in the opening period.

But, luckily for the visitors, their Portuguese attacker was in a far more clinical frame of mind. He broke the scoring with a marvellous long-range strike, which proved to be the spark for his team to assume command of proceedings. By full time, they had 4 goals, with Neto netting a trio of them for a superb three-goal haul.

Delap's Redemption and Impact

Hull showed plenty of fight throughout, but the clearer opportunities consistently came to the visitors. The winger should have opened the scoring when he rounded keeper the Hull stopper before unbelievably shooting over. Delap then had a comparable horror moment in front of goal against his old team.

He blocked a Phillips's clearance which came back from the crossbar, and he began to celebrate believing the ball had crossed the line. It hadn’t, and by the time he realised, Hull's backline had responded to clear the threat.

Delap had his head in his hands after that miss, but he was hugely instrumental from there on out, providing three key passes. The first was for the first goal as his through ball teed up Neto to score from range. Six minutes after the second half began, it was 2-0 as the forward's set-piece went directly in through the keeper's legs.

Tie Put Beyond Doubt and Focus Turns

Seven minutes after Neto’s second goal, the tie was effectively ended as a magnificent dribble from the forward laid on his teammate to slide into an unguarded goal. Neto then finished his treble as Delap again played the crucial pass for the striker to calmly slot by a stranded goalkeeper.

At that point, the work Hull had put in in the first half-hour had been erased. Their focus must now return to securing a return to the Premier League under Sergej Jakirovic, who left out several first-choice players with that aim in mind.

"In my opinion we earned at least one goal but if we perform like this we will be in a very good situation in the Championship," he said. "Never surrender, maybe in the upcoming matches this can be a positive example of how we should play."

There was great endeavour to the final whistle, and they nearly got a consolation when Lewis Koumas hit a the upright in injury time. But this was the Blues' night, and another encouraging step forward for their recently-appointed manager at a stadium he knows intimately.

FA Cup History Look Promising

That made for an in the end straightforward evening’s performance, and the cup competition omens are good from here for Chelsea. They have played Hull on three previous times in this competition in the last decade and on each occasion, they have progressed to reach the final. There is still work in that regard, but this was another huge tick for the Chelsea boss.