Crawley boss John Gregory was furious as his side bowed out of the Capital One Cup after a controversial finale at Carrow Road.

Gregory and the Crawley players were convinced their side should have had an 89th-minute penalty when Kyle McFadden appeared to handle Izale McLeod’s goalbound header on the line.

The visitors surrounded referee Darren Deadman but he remained unmoved and moments later Josh Murphy sealed Norwich’s progress with his second of the game to add to Cameron Jerome’s opener.

Crawley’s consolation was an own goal by Carlos Cueller that made it 2-1 but Gregory felt his side deserved much more.

He said: “I go by the reaction of my players and seven or eight of them were convinced he’d handled it.

“It should have been a penalty to us and a red card but instead they go down the other end and make it 3-1.

“I was very proud of my boys. For the last 30 minutes we camped in their half and we had other chances to score.

“The effort and commitment was tremendous. We have come to a Championship side and at times played very, very well.”