Reggae Boy Reid helps earn point for struggling Fulham

Fulham’s Reggae Boy forward, Bobby Reid.
Fulham’s Reggae Boy forward, Bobby Reid.

LONDON, CMC – Reggae Boyz forward, Bobby Reid, scored his seventh goal of the season but Fulham were forced to settle for a point in a 2-2 draw against fellow strugglers West Bromwich Albion in the English Premier League on Saturday.

Playing away at The Hawthorns in the West Midlands, the 27-year-old Bristol-born Reid gave the visitors a 10th-minute lead but the London outfit frustratingly conceded two second half goals.

Fulham manager Scott Parker was left wondering what his side have to do to end a winless run that now stands at 10 PL matches.

Reid’s opener provided the perfect platform to change that statistic but they were unable to build on it as a result of their profligacy in front of goal.

Reid, a former Bristol City winger who made his Jamaica debut in 2019, was unfortunate to see an effort to double Fulham’s lead come back off the left post after being played through by Ruben Loftus-Cheek.

But he, Ademola Lookman and Loftus-Cheek all had other chances to convert when well-placed to put the Cottagers out of sight by the interval.

Fulham paid for their missed chances when defender Kyle Bartley levelled two minutes after the break and Brazilian Matheus Pereira then put the hosts ahead in the 66th minute.

Ivan Cavaleiro, a 72nd minute replacement for Reid, rescued a point for Fulham five minutes later with a headed goal.

Meanwhile, Callum Wilson returned to form with a second-half brace that helped relieve pressure on Newcastle United manager Steve Bruce as they won 2-0 at Everton – their first win in nine top flight matches.

Coventry-born Wilson, 28, who is of Jamaican descent, scored his 50th PL goal with a superb, inch-perfect header from Jonjo Shelvey’s 73rd minute corner and added a second in stoppage time, finishing low past goalkeeper Jordan Pickford when one-on-one as Everton were caught high up the pitch looking for an equaliser.

The forward’s double strike, which took his season’s tally to 10, ended a seven-game goal drought for the player, who also missed Newcastle’s two best chances either side of half-time. 

Often isolated in previous matches, he received better support and, although starting slightly to the right, he looked dangerous from the outset. 

Wilson’s father is Jamaican while his mother is English, but he has opted to represent the Three Lions and has earned four caps since his debut three years ago.

In the Championship, Colin Kazim-Richards, 34, whose father is of Antiguan descent, bagged the winner for Derby County in a 1-0 win over visitors Bristol City, leaving Bermudian striker Nahki Wells empty-handed.

London-born Kazim-Richards, the Rams’ leading scorer, struck the only goal of the game after just four minutes for Wayne Rooney’s men, arriving at the far post to side-foot home Lee Buchanan’s superb left-wing cross into the roof of the net and register his fifth goal of the season.