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Amid freezing rain, flurries, and a biting breeze from the banks of the Humber Estuary, alongside a determined home side pushing hard for promotion, this presented all the ingredients of a challenging night's work for the visitors.

"We might have added to our tally but the opposition are a strong 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 great to get a positive reception from both sets of fans. The attitude of the lads was superb."

The Chelsea manager holds this place dear to him, given part of his relatives hail from Hull and his enjoyable period in charge of the Championship club. His positive connection was extended with a magnificent display from his team, who ultimately strolled into the next round of the famous old competition.

Clinical Finishing Seals Comfortable Victory

Seventy-two hours after surrendering a 2-0 advantage in the league, there was a sniff of vulnerability about them going into this intriguing cup clash. The packed Hull crowd evidently felt it too, but the London side navigated the challenge perfectly.

The manager made alterations, making multiple of them to his XI. The match could and perhaps ought to have been decided long before it eventually was, with two the Brazilian winger and Liam Delap guilty of spurning glorious opportunities to put their side in front in the opening period.

However, luckily for the visitors, Pedro Neto was in a much more clinical mood. He opened the scoring with a spectacular long-range effort, which acted as the catalyst for Chelsea to take control of proceedings. By full time, they had four, with the forward scoring a trio of them for a superb three-goal haul.

Delap's Redemption and Influence

Hull showed plenty of spirit throughout, but the clearer opportunities consistently came Chelsea’s way. The winger ought to have broken the scoring when he rounded keeper the Hull stopper before unbelievably shooting over. Delap then had a comparable horror incident in front of goal against his former club.

He deflected a Phillips's clearance which came off the crossbar, and he began to celebrate believing the ball had gone over the line. It had not, and by the time he understood, Hull's backline had reacted to avert the danger.

Delap had his head in his hands after that moment, but he was immensely influential from there on out, providing three key passes. The opening was for the first goal as his pass set up Neto to score from range. Six minutes after the restart, it was two as the forward's corner went directly in under the keeper's legs.

Contest Sealed and Focus Shifts

Seven minutes after Neto’s second goal, the match was effectively ended as a magnificent run from Delap laid on Estêvão to tap into an unguarded goal. Neto then finished his treble as the provider once again delivered the decisive pass for the attacker to calmly slot by a stranded goalkeeper.

By that stage, the effort Hull had put in in the opening thirty minutes had long since forgotten. Their priority must now return to securing a promotion to the Premier League under Sergej Jakirovic, who rested several key 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 situation in the league," he said. "Keep fighting, maybe in the upcoming matches this can be a good lesson of how we should play."

Hull showed plenty of endeavour to the final whistle, and they nearly claimed a consolation when Lewis Koumas hit a post in injury time. But this was Chelsea’s night, and another encouraging stride for their new manager at a place he knows very well.

FA Cup History Are Promising

That resulted in an ultimately routine evening’s work, and the cup competition signs are positive from here for Chelsea. They have played Hull on three previous times in this competition in the past ten years and every single time, they have gone on to reach the showpiece. There is still done in that regard, but this was another huge positive for the Chelsea boss.