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Amid sleet, flurries, and a swirling breeze from the banks of the Humber Estuary, combined with a resolute home side pushing hard for promotion, this had all the ingredients of a challenging night's task for Chelsea.

"We might have added to our tally but the opposition are a strong team and it was a tough tie; I’m delighted with the performance," he said. "This club means a lot to me so it was great to get a good reception from the fans of supporters. The attitude of the players was superb."

The Chelsea manager holds this city dear to him, given part of his relatives are from Hull and his enjoyable spell in management of the Championship club. This happy association continued with a commanding display from his team, who ultimately sauntered into the next round of the famous old competition.

Deadly Edge Secures Comfortable Win

Seventy-two hours removed from letting slip a two-goal lead in the Premier League, there was a hint of vulnerability about them going into this intriguing cup clash. The capacity home crowd evidently felt it too, but the London side handled the challenge with ease.

The manager rang the changes, making seven of them to his XI. The match might and maybe should have been settled long before it actually was, with both Estêvão Willian and the forward at fault for missing glorious chances to put their side in front in the opening period.

But, fortunately for the away team, their Portuguese attacker was in a far more clinical frame of mind. He broke the deadlock with a marvellous distance effort, which proved to be the catalyst for Chelsea to assume control of the match. By the final whistle, they had four, with the forward scoring a trio of them for a brilliant hat-trick.

Delap's Response and Influence

Hull showed great spirit throughout, but the clearer chances always came Chelsea’s way. Estêvão should have opened the scoring when he rounded goalkeeper Dillon Phillips before unbelievably firing over. Delap then had a comparable horror moment in front of goal against his old team.

He blocked a Phillips's kick which bounced off the crossbar, and Delap began to celebrate believing the ball had gone over the line. It hadn’t, and by the time he understood, Hull's backline had reacted to avert the threat.

Delap had his head in his hands after that moment, but he was hugely instrumental from there on out, registering 3 assists. The opening was for the opening goal as his through ball teed up Neto to finish from outside the box. Shortly after the restart, it was two as the forward's set-piece went straight in under the keeper's legs.

Tie Put Beyond Doubt and Focus Shifts

Seven minutes after the second, the tie was put beyond doubt as a magnificent run from the forward laid on his teammate to tap into an unguarded goal. Neto then completed his hat-trick as the provider again played the decisive ball for the attacker to coolly convert by a stranded Phillips.

At that point, the effort Hull had put in in the opening thirty minutes had been forgotten. Their focus must now return to achieving a return to the Premier League under Sergej Jakirovic, who left out several key individuals 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 strong position in the league," the Hull manager commented. "Keep fighting, maybe in the next games this can be a good lesson of how we should play."

There was great endeavour to the end, and they almost claimed a late goal when Lewis Koumas struck a the upright in stoppage time. But this was the Blues' evening, and another positive step forward for their new head coach at a place he knows very well.

FA Cup History Look Promising

That resulted in an ultimately straightforward night's work, and the FA Cup-shaped omens are positive from here for Chelsea. They have played Hull on three previous occasions in this tournament in the past ten years and on each occasion, they have gone on to make the final. Much remains to be done in that regard, but this was another significant tick for the Chelsea boss.