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Amid sleet, flurries, and a swirling wind off the banks of the Humber, alongside a determined home side pushing hard for a top-flight place, this had all the ingredients of a challenging evening’s task for Chelsea.

"We might have added to our tally but the opposition are a good team and it was a tough fixture; I’m delighted with the performance," he said. "This club is very special to me so it was great to get a positive reception from both sets of fans. The application of the lads was excellent."

The Chelsea manager holds this city dear to him, given some of his family hail from Hull and his successful period in charge of the Tigers. This happy association was extended with a magnificent display from his squad, who ultimately sauntered into the next round of the famous old competition.

Clinical Finishing Seals Comfortable Win

Seventy-two hours after letting slip a two-goal advantage in the league, there was a sniff of fragility about Chelsea going into this intriguing cup clash. The capacity home support clearly felt it too, but the London side handled the challenge perfectly.

The manager rang the changes, making seven of them to his starting lineup. The match might and maybe should have been decided long before it eventually was, with both the Brazilian winger and Liam Delap guilty of spurning excellent opportunities to put their side in front in the first half.

However, luckily for the away team, their Portuguese attacker was in a much more ruthless mood. He opened the scoring with a spectacular long-range strike, which acted as the spark for his team to assume control of the match. By the final whistle, they had four, with Neto scoring three of them for a brilliant hat-trick.

Delap's Response and Influence

The home side showed plenty of fight throughout, but the better opportunities consistently fell to the visitors. Estêvão should have opened the deadlock when he went past keeper the Hull stopper before inexplicably shooting over. The striker then had a similar horror incident in front of goal against his former club.

He blocked a Phillips's clearance which came off the bar, and Delap started to run away thinking the ball had gone over the line. It hadn’t, and by the time he understood, Hull's backline had responded to clear the danger.

The player had his head in his hands after that miss, but he was hugely influential from that point onward, providing three key passes. The opening was for the opening goal as his through ball teed up his teammate to score from range. Shortly after the second half began, it was two as Neto's set-piece went straight in through the keeper's legs.

Contest Put Beyond Doubt and Focus Turns

Soon after Neto’s second goal, the tie was put beyond doubt as a magnificent run from the forward teed up his teammate to slide into an empty net. The hat-trick hero then finished his treble as the provider once again played the crucial ball for the striker to coolly convert by a stranded goalkeeper.

At that point, the work Hull had done in the opening half-hour had long since erased. Their priority must now switch back to achieving a promotion to the top division under Sergej Jakirovic, who rested several key 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 position in the league," the Hull manager commented. "Keep fighting, maybe in the next matches this can be a good lesson of how we must play."

Hull showed great endeavour to the end, and they almost got a consolation when Lewis Koumas hit a post in stoppage time. But this was the Blues' night, and another positive step forward for their new head coach at a place he is familiar with very well.

Cup Omens Are Promising

The result resulted in an in the end routine night's work, and the cup competition omens are positive from here for Chelsea. They have played Hull on three other times in this competition in the past ten years and every single time, they have gone on to make the showpiece. There is remains to be done in that regard, but this was another significant tick for the Chelsea boss.