(Football news) Premier League side Fulham was knocked out by League Two’s Crawley Town 2-0 in the second round of the Carabao Cup with goals from captain Tom Nichols and Liverpool loanee James Balagizi. Despite sitting second from the bottom in Division 2 with one point in five games, Crawley put in a sublime performance, scoring the opening goal after 16 minutes when Nichols slotted the ball into the bottom corner and then provided the assist for Balagizi who fired past Marek Rodak in the 49th minute.
Such was Crawley Town’s performance that last season’s Championship winners Fulham didn’t have a single shot on target until the 92nd minute despite having 67% possession. The London based side reached the second round after defeating Brentford 3-2 in the Premier League on Saturday and manager Marco Silva made 10 changes to his team with 19 year old youngster Jay Stansfield being retained in the lineup.
Speaking after the match, Fulham manager Kevin Betsy said “What an evening. Little Crawley Town beating Premier League Fulham. Unbelievable. What we have done is phenomenal. We had a plan of how we wanted to play and that will be our blueprint going forward. This club will go from strength to strength." Fulham manager Marco Silva said “Congratulations to them. From the first minute they wanted it more than us. In these types of games you have to equal the enthusiasm and the intensity of the opponent. I am responsible for the changes. I took the decisions I took. They were the best options for the game. Some gave their maximum but it was not enough."
