Crawley Town boss demands: 'We must finish with our heads up'

Crawley Town's Filipe Morais congratulates Ashley Nathaniel-George for his goal during Reds' 1-1 draw with Notts County on Bank Holiday Monday. Picture by Steve Robards

These great wins were followed with 1-1 draw with bottom of the table Notts County at the People's Pension Stadium on Easter Monday.

The Reds boss has been under fire from some sections of the support but finally he has has answered the doubters by producing some good results when they were really needed.

Cioffi said they are in the place in the table they deserved to be (19th in League 2 out of 24 clubs) and admitted he and the players had under-performed.

Crawley Town head coach Gabriele Cioffi gives instructions to his players during their 1-1 draw with Notts County.
Picture by Steve Robards — Crawley Town head coach Gabriele Cioffi gives instructions to his players during their 1-1 draw with Notts County. Picture by Steve Robards

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But he pointed out it had not been an easy season with a change of manager and players sidelined.

Cioffi said: “Honestly it was a really tough season for everyone. We are where we deserve to be.

“If you ask me did we under-perform then probably, yes.

“But you must not forget where we started. The season started with a different manager and the change broke the balance of the dressing room.

“Then we started a new path, and enthusiasm surrounded my experience here.

“Then we had injuries and suspensions in January - Ollie Palmer, Filipe Morais, Mark Connolly and in a squad like we are, this makes a difference.”

Despite a run of poor results, Cioffi was never worried the club would be relegated.

He said: “No I never thought we would go down - in the last ten games we did not get many points but our performances deserved 12 or 13.”

Cioffi admitted both he and the players are playing for their places during the last two matches.

He said: “Of course everyone doing our job, whether a manager or player on the pitch has to show they are good enough for the next season.

“The boys know we have been carrying players in a lot of games.”

With safety mathematically assured, Crawley Town now have just two more matches left with the massive trip to Carlisle United this Saturday.

This will be followed on May 4 with their final game of the season when they host Tranmere Rovers.