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Amid freezing rain, snow, and a swirling breeze from the waters of the Humber, alongside a determined home side fighting for promotion, this presented all the ingredients of a challenging night's task for Chelsea.

"We could have added to our tally but the opposition are a strong team and it was a tough tie; I’m delighted with the performance," the manager stated. "Hull City means a lot to me so it was great to get a positive reception from both sets of supporters. The application of the lads was superb."

Liam Chelsea manager has this city dear to him, considering some of his relatives hail from Hull and his successful period in charge of the Tigers. This positive association continued with a commanding display from his team, who in the end sauntered into the fifth round of the FA Cup.

Deadly Finishing Seals Comprehensive Victory

Three days after surrendering a 2-0 lead in the league, there was a sniff of fragility about them going into this potentially tricky tie. The packed Hull support evidently felt it too, but the London side navigated the task perfectly.

The manager made alterations, making multiple of them to his XI. The tie could and perhaps should have been settled earlier than it actually was, with both the Brazilian winger and Liam Delap guilty of spurning excellent chances to put Chelsea ahead in the opening period.

However, luckily for the away team, their Portuguese attacker was in a much more ruthless mood. He broke the scoring with a spectacular distance effort, which acted as the catalyst for his team to assume command of proceedings. By the final whistle, they had 4 goals, with Neto scoring three of them for a superb three-goal haul.

The Forward's Redemption and Impact

Hull displayed plenty of spirit all game, but the clearer opportunities always fell Chelsea’s way. The winger should have broken the deadlock when he went past goalkeeper the Hull stopper before inexplicably firing over. Delap then had a comparable horror moment in front of goal against his old team.

He deflected a the goalkeeper's clearance which bounced off the crossbar, and Delap started to run away thinking the ball had gone over the line. It had not, and by the time he understood, Hull's backline had reacted to avert the threat.

The player had his head in his hands after that miss, but he was hugely instrumental from that point onward, providing three assists. The first was for the opening goal as his through ball set up his teammate to finish from range. Six minutes after the second half began, it was 2-0 as Neto's corner went directly in under the keeper's legs.

Contest Put Beyond Doubt and Attention Turns

Seven minutes after the second goal, the match was put beyond doubt as a dazzling dribble from the forward teed up Estêvão to tap into an empty net. Neto then completed his treble as Delap once again played the decisive ball for the attacker to coolly convert by a helpless goalkeeper.

At that point, the work Hull had put in in the opening half-hour had long since forgotten. Their priority must now return to securing a promotion to the top division under their manager, who left out several key individuals with that aim in mind.

"I think we deserved at least one goal but if we perform like this we will be in a strong situation in the Championship," the Hull manager commented. "Keep fighting, maybe in the upcoming games this can be a positive lesson of how we must play."

Hull showed great endeavour to the end, and they almost got a consolation when Lewis Koumas struck a the upright in injury time. But this was Chelsea’s night, and another encouraging step forward for their new manager at a stadium he is familiar with intimately.

Cup History Look Good

The result made for an ultimately routine night's work, and the FA Cup-shaped omens are positive from here for Chelsea. They have played Hull on three previous times in this tournament in the last decade and on each occasion, they have gone on to make the final. There is remains to be done in that regard, but this was another huge tick for the Chelsea boss.