LONDON, CMC – Grenada internationals Ollie Norburn and Omar Beckles were both on target for their English clubs last night when Bermudian striker Nahki Wells’ brilliant solo effort also helped end Bristol City’s six-match losing streak in the Championship.
Two players with Jamaican connections, Jordon Garrick and Courney Duffus, also scored as their clubs picked up a point apiece.
Norburn, a Bolton-born 28-year-old midfielder, who was called up by the Spice Boys in 2019, having qualified through his paternal grandfather, stroked home an eighth-minute penalty as Shrewsbury Town defeated Milton Keynes Dons 4-2 in a League One match.
Norburn, the captain, converted after Harry Chapman was upended by Ben Gladwin..
In the same division, the 29-year-old Beckles, a defender who also made his debut for Grenada in 2019, put Crewe Alexandra on the path to a 2-0 home win over 10-man Accrington Stanley with a 32nd-minute strike.
Beckles made the most of a mistake by on-loan Chelsea goalkeeper Nathan Baxter to score his first goal for the Railwaymen against his former club.
Elsewhere in League One, Jamaica-born Garrick, 22, who moved to England as a child and is on loan from Championship club Swansea City, gave struggling Swindon Town an early lead at second-placed Lincoln City, but the Wiltshire outfit were pegged back in a 2-2 draw.
Swindon’s first attack produced a goal after 80 seconds. Dominic Thompson burst down the left flank, just keeping the ball in to deliver a cross that Scott Twine left for Garrick to hammer first time past Alex Palmer.
Bristol City’s new manager, Nigel Pearson, watched his new side record an impressive win at Middlesbrough.
Famara Diedhiou’s brace – a header and a coolly-placed right-foot shot – and Wells’ superb solo run and finish had the visitors 3-0 ahead before half-time.
Dael Fry pulled a goal back for Boro with 10 minutes left, but they were unable to undo the damage from a dominant first-half display by the Robins.
Wells, 30, had a goal-bound effort stopped on the line as Paddy McNair raced back to cover but once they took the lead, there was no stopping a resurgent City.
Diedhiou soon added to his opening goal when he and Wells combined on the break to set up a low finish under goalkeeper Marcus Bettinelli’s body.
Moments later, they had a third as a hopeful clearance by Tomas Kalas from his own byline was flicked on by Diedhiou for Wells to meet on halfway and then outpace a despairing Jonny Howson before rounding Bettinelli for the finish, notching his seventh goal of the season.
Victory was City’s first in the league since the end of January and their first away from home since December 1.
In the National League, the fifth tier of English football pyramid, Courtney Duffus, 25, whose father is Jamaican, earned Bromley a share of the spoils with a 54th-minute equaliser in a 1-1 draw at Boreham Wood.