Crawley Town boss Gabriele Cioffi not happy with the way his side conceded goals in the FA Cup

Crawley Town boss Gabriele Cioffi said 'the knife goes in the belly easy' when describing the way the goals his side conceded went in against Southend United on Tuesday night.
Gabriele CioffiGabriele Cioffi
Gabriele Cioffi

In the FA Cup first round replay, the Reds lost 6-2 after extra-time to the Essex side after extra time. Cioffi's men went into half-time 2-0 down before staging a brilliant comeback to take the game into extra-time thanks to a brace from Ollie Palmer.

But four goals from the League One side saw them through. But Cioffi was no happy with the way they conceded the goals.

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He said: "I am proud of the reaction second. Basically the first half we didn’t play. We conceded silly goals.

"The second half they answered to my questions in the proper way with proper character. We played better football. Probably with a bit of luck we could have got something more.

"What we have to improve is on when we have seconds where we switch off and concede.

"It doesn’t matter if they are a league above us or not. If I look in the way we score tonight we have to strike at the goal. If I look at the goals we suffered, everything goes smooth. The knife goes in the belly easy."

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The head coach also revealed what he said to the players at half time to spark the comeback. He said: "Play the game. I asked why are we not playing? Why are we not pressing? Why are we waiting?

"Whatever the team formation 3-5-2, 4-4-2, 4-3-3 we have showed we can win and we can lose."

"But when we lose, we lose because we have a second where everyone switches off. I am upset, but I am more upset for them."