ESSEN, Germany, CMC – Jamaica international winger Leon Bailey broke the deadlock with an extra-time goal in a German Cup match on Tuesday night, but then saw Bayer Leverkusen bundled out by fourth-tier Rot-Weiss Essen in a shock 2-1 defeat.
Bailey, 23, put his Bundesliga side ahead with a crisp finish in the 105th minute, but Essen soon levelled with a goal from Oguzhan Kefkir.
Simon Engelmann then scored the winner for Essen on 117 minutes to clinch a quarter-final spot as the lowest-ranked team left in the competition – the DFB-Pokal – marched on following victories over Arminia Bielefeld and second-tier Fortuna Dusseldorf in earlier rounds.
Bailey joined Leverkusen, who have only one major domestic title to their name in their 116-year history, in 2017 from Belgian side Genk, where he had moved in 2015.
Bailey made his debut for the Reggae Boyz in 2019, having made one appearance for the Under-23s, and netted his first goal in a 6-0 rout of Antigua and Barbuda in a CONCACAF Nations League match.
Meanwhile, in England, Lewis Grabban, a 33-year-old English-Jamaican striker, registered his third goal of the season in the 22nd minute as Nottingham Forest moved further away from the Championship relegation zone with a 2-1 win at Coventry City.
Grabban, who was called up to the Jamaica squad in 2015 but remains uncapped, later cleared off the line as Coventry pressed in vain for an equaliser.
In League Two, Forest Green Rovers’ leading scorer, Jamaican striker Jamille Matt, was sidelined by injury, but the Gloucestershire outfit returned home with all three points after replacing Carlisle United in second place in the table following a 2-1 victory at Brunton Park.