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Amid freezing rain, snow, and a swirling breeze from the banks of the Humber, combined with a resolute Hull City side fighting for a top-flight place, this had all the ingredients of a challenging night's work for Chelsea.

"We could have scored more but Hull are a strong team and it was a difficult tie; I am very pleased with the performance," he said. "This club means a lot to me so it was nice to get a good welcome from the fans of fans. The attitude of the players was excellent."

Liam Chelsea manager has this city close to his heart, given some of his family hail from Hull and his successful period in charge of the Tigers. His positive association continued with a commanding performance from his team, who in the end sauntered into the fifth round of the famous old competition.

Deadly Finishing Secures Comprehensive Win

Seventy-two hours after surrendering a two-goal advantage in the league, there was a sniff of fragility about Chelsea going into this intriguing tie. The capacity Hull crowd evidently sensed it too, but the London side navigated the challenge with ease.

The manager rang the changes, making seven of them to his XI. The tie could and perhaps ought to have been settled earlier than it actually was, with both the Brazilian winger and the forward guilty of missing glorious opportunities to put their side ahead in the first half.

But, fortunately for the away team, Pedro Neto was in a much more clinical mood. He opened the scoring with a marvellous long-range strike, which proved to be the catalyst for his team to assume command of proceedings. By the final whistle, they had four, with the forward scoring a trio of them for a brilliant three-goal haul.

The Forward's Redemption and Influence

The home side showed great fight all game, but the better opportunities always came Chelsea’s way. Estêvão should have broken the deadlock when he rounded keeper Dillon Phillips before inexplicably shooting over. The striker then had a similar nightmare moment in front of goal against his old team.

He deflected a the goalkeeper's clearance which came off the crossbar, and he began to run away thinking the ball had gone over the line. It hadn’t, and by the time he understood, Hull's defenders had responded 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 pass teed up his teammate to finish from range. Shortly after the restart, it was two as Neto's set-piece went straight in under the keeper's legs.

Tie Sealed and Focus Turns

Seven minutes after Neto’s second, the match was effectively ended as a dazzling run from Delap teed up Estêvão to tap into an empty net. The hat-trick hero then finished his treble as the provider once again played the decisive pass for the attacker to calmly slot past a helpless goalkeeper.

By that stage, the work Hull had put in in the opening half-hour had long since forgotten. Their priority must now return to achieving a return to the Premier League under their manager, who rested several first-choice players with that aim in mind.

"In my opinion we deserved at least one goal but if we play like this we will be in a very good position in the league," the Hull manager commented. "Never surrender, maybe in the upcoming matches this can be a positive example of how we should play."

There was great effort to the final whistle, and they nearly got a late goal when a substitute struck a the upright in injury time. But this was the Blues' night, and another encouraging step forward for their recently-appointed manager at a place he is familiar with intimately.

FA Cup History Look Good

The result made for an ultimately routine night's performance, and the FA Cup-shaped omens are positive from here for Chelsea. They have faced Hull on three other occasions in this tournament in the last decade and on each occasion, they have progressed to reach the final. There is remains to be done in that respect, but this was another huge positive for the Chelsea boss.