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Amid sleet, flurries, and a swirling wind from the waters of the Humber, combined with a resolute home side pushing hard for a top-flight place, this had all the makings of a challenging night's task for the visitors.

"We might have added to our tally 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 positive welcome from both sets of supporters. The attitude of the lads was superb."

Liam Chelsea manager has this city close to his heart, considering part of his relatives hail from Hull and his successful spell in management of the Championship club. His positive association was extended with a commanding display from his squad, who ultimately strolled into the next round of the famous old competition.

Deadly Edge Secures Comprehensive Win

Seventy-two hours after surrendering a 2-0 advantage in the Premier League, there was a sniff of vulnerability about Chelsea going into this intriguing tie. The packed Hull crowd clearly sensed it too, but the London side navigated the task perfectly.

The manager rang the changes, making multiple of them to his XI. The match could and perhaps ought to have been decided earlier than it actually was, with both the Brazilian winger and the forward at fault for spurning excellent opportunities to put Chelsea in front in the opening period.

However, luckily for the visitors, their Portuguese attacker was in a much more ruthless frame of mind. He opened the deadlock with a marvellous distance strike, which proved to be the catalyst for Chelsea to assume command of proceedings. By full time, they had 4 goals, with Neto scoring a trio of them for a brilliant three-goal haul.

The Forward's Redemption and Influence

Hull displayed great spirit throughout, but the clearer chances consistently came Chelsea’s way. Estêvão ought to have broken the scoring when he rounded keeper the Hull stopper before unbelievably shooting over. Delap then had a similar nightmare incident in front of goal against his old team.

He blocked a the goalkeeper's clearance which came back from the crossbar, and Delap began to celebrate thinking the ball had gone over the line. It had not, and by the time he understood, Hull's backline had responded to avert the threat.

Delap had his head in his hands after that miss, but he was hugely influential from there on out, registering three key passes. The first was for the first goal as his through ball set up his teammate to finish from outside the box. Six minutes after the restart, it was two as the forward's set-piece went straight in under Phillips's legs.

Contest Put Beyond Doubt and Attention Shifts

Seven minutes after the second, the match was put beyond doubt as a magnificent run from Delap laid on Estêvão to tap into an empty net. Neto then finished his hat-trick as Delap once again played the crucial pass for the attacker to calmly slot past a stranded goalkeeper.

At that point, the work Hull had done in the first thirty minutes had long since forgotten. Their focus must now switch back to securing a promotion to the top division 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 play like this we will be in a very good situation in the Championship," he said. "Never surrender, maybe in the next games this can be a positive lesson of how we must play."

There was great endeavour to the final whistle, and they nearly claimed a late goal when Lewis Koumas hit a the upright in stoppage time. But this was the Blues' night, and another positive stride for their recently-appointed manager at a place he is familiar with very well.

Cup History Look Good

The result made for an ultimately straightforward night's work, and the cup competition signs are good from here for the winners. They have played Hull on three previous times in this competition in the past ten years and every single time, they have progressed to reach the showpiece. Much remains to be work in that regard, but this was another significant tick for the Chelsea boss.