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Against a backdrop of freezing rain, flurries, and a biting wind off the waters of the Humber Estuary, alongside a determined Hull City side pushing hard for a top-flight place, this had all the ingredients of a challenging night's work for the visitors.

"We might have added to our tally but Hull are a good team and it was a tough fixture; I am delighted 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 application of the lads was excellent."

The Chelsea manager has this place close to his heart, considering part of his relatives hail from Hull and his enjoyable spell in management of the Tigers. His positive association continued with a commanding display from his squad, who ultimately sauntered into the fifth round of the famous old competition.

Deadly Finishing Secures Comfortable Win

Seventy-two hours after letting slip a 2-0 advantage in the Premier League, there was a sniff of vulnerability about Chelsea going into this potentially tricky cup clash. The packed Hull crowd clearly sensed it too, but the London side handled 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 two the Brazilian winger and Liam Delap at fault for missing glorious chances to put Chelsea in front in the first half.

However, fortunately for the visitors, Pedro Neto was in a far more ruthless frame of mind. He broke the scoring with a spectacular distance strike, which proved to be the catalyst for Chelsea to take command of the match. By full time, they had 4 goals, with Neto scoring a trio of them for a brilliant hat-trick.

The Forward's Response and Influence

Hull showed great fight all game, but the clearer chances always came Chelsea’s way. The winger should have opened the deadlock when he rounded keeper Dillon Phillips before unbelievably firing over. Delap then had a similar nightmare incident in front of goal against his former club.

He deflected a the goalkeeper's clearance which bounced off the bar, and he started to celebrate thinking the ball had crossed the line. It hadn’t, and by the time he realised, Hull's backline had reacted to clear the danger.

The player had his head in his hands after that miss, but he was immensely instrumental from there on out, registering 3 assists. The first was for the opening goal as his through ball set up Neto to score from range. Shortly after the restart, it was 2-0 as the forward's set-piece went directly in through Phillips's legs.

Contest Sealed and Focus Shifts

Soon after Neto’s second goal, the match was put beyond doubt as a dazzling run from Delap laid on his teammate to slide into an unguarded goal. The hat-trick hero then finished his hat-trick as the provider once again played the decisive ball for the attacker to calmly convert by a helpless Phillips.

At that point, the work Hull had done in the opening half-hour had been forgotten. Their priority must now switch back to achieving a promotion to the top division 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 perform like this we will be in a strong situation in the league," the Hull manager commented. "Never surrender, maybe in the upcoming games this can be a positive lesson of how we should play."

Hull showed plenty of effort to the end, and they nearly got a consolation when Lewis Koumas hit a the upright in stoppage time. But this was the Blues' night, and another encouraging step forward for their new manager at a place he knows very well.

Cup Omens Look Good

The result made for an ultimately straightforward night's work, and the cup competition signs are positive from here for the winners. They have played Hull on three other times in this competition in the past ten years and on each occasion, they have gone on to make the showpiece. Much remains to be done in that respect, but this was another significant positive for the Chelsea boss.