Crawley boss remains humble but ‘very proud’ after slice of luck helped to beat Canaries
Crawley Town head coach Gabriele Cioffi welcomed Norwich City boss Daniel Farke ahead of kick-off Picture: Paul Chesterton/Focus Images - Credit: Paul Chesterton/Focus Images Ltd
Crawley head coach Gabriele Cioffi called for his players to remain ‘humble’ in the wake of making Norwich City the club’s first ever Premier League scalp in a cup competition.
The Canaries visited the Broadfield Stadium for the first time and were beaten 1-0 in the second round of the League Cup by the League Two side.
Cioffi, 43, was a player and coach at lower levels in Italy but came to England as a coach under Gianfranco Zola at Birmingham City in 2016-17 and succeeded Harry Kewell at Crawley in September 2018, finishing 19th but comfortably clear of relegation trouble last season.
"I'm very proud, very happy," said the Italian. "We have written history for Crawley so we're very happy. My first thought is I have to thank the chairman, I have to thank Salim (Gaygusuz, director of football) because if I'm still here it's because they trust my work and they didn't care a lot about what happened last season.
"They gave me the trust that what happened was a work in progress. Secondly, I want to thank the players, each one of them, because when an idea of football is working it's because they believe and they are giving 100 percent, and these are the results.
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"And thirdly, I really enjoyed seeing the stadium rocking in this way, so it was an emotional night, it was the vision I had when I first arrived.
"We enjoy tonight but we are humble people, a humble squad, so after tonight we are going to prepare for Cheltenham."
Crawley Town, including head coach Gabriele Cioffi, celebrate victory over Norwich City in the Carabao Cup second round Picture: Paul Chesterton/Focus Images - Credit: Paul Chesterton/Focus Images Ltd
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Cioffi felt Lady Luck was on his team's side on the night as well, with the decisive strike from 21-year-old former Birmingham trainee Bez Lubala going on courtesy of a deflection off City's young striker Adam Idah, who was trying to block the shot.
Speaking to his club's official website, he continued: "We played well but when a League Two club beat a Premier League club there is a bit of coincidence, but it is also because we prepared very well.
"They prepared well too and probably we believed that one percent more we had a bit of luck, so probably it is a bit of circumstance, but what we prepared with the staff happened on the pitch."
