LONDON, CMC – Grenada international Kairo Mitchell scored twice late on as King’s Lynn Town boosted their English National League survival hopes with a 2-0 home victory over Altrincham yesterday.
Mitchell, 23, fired home an angled shot low into the bottom corner with 10 minutes remaining before the six-foot, three-inch striker converted from the penalty spot four minutes from time.
King’s Lynn, beaten 3-0 by fifth-tier rivals Altrincham less than a fortnight ago, had earlier seen substitute Michael Gash’s 78th-minute penalty saved by Tony Thompson.
In League One, St Kitts and Nevis defender Michael Nottingham produced a superb finish 20 minutes from time to earn Accrington Stanley a 2-1 win at Oxford United.
Nottingham, 31, controlled a clearance with a deft first touch and then rifled home a half-volley from 10 yards to bring Accrington a vital win for their slender hopes of reaching the play-offs, and all but ending Oxford’s.
Earlier, John Coleman’s men went in front on 16 minutes when on-loan Queens Park Rangers forward Paul Smyth fired high into the net from 15 yards, before Oxford equalised nine minutes later with Elliot Lee slotting home from Matt Taylor’s pass.
Meanwhile in League Two, Guyana international Callum Harriott helped Colchester United secure a point against fellow strugglers Barrow with the opener in a 1-1 draw.
Harriott, 27, gave Colchester the lead on 33 minutes when his low first-time shot flew in after Frank Nouble had helped Courtney Senior’s delivery into his path.
But substitute Tom Beadling salvaged a point for the visitors in the 88th minute when he struck home a low shot from the edge of the area.
Elsewhere in League Two, 37-year-old striker Clayton Donaldson, who made 10 appearances for Jamaica’s Reggae Boyz, and Luke Norris exchanged first-half goals as play-off-chasing pair Stevenage and Bradford City had to settle for a point apiece.
Norris put Stevenage ahead after 15 minutes, but the visitors levelled against the run of play in the 27th minute when Connor Wood’s cross was met by Donaldson, whose header looped over a stranded Jamie Cumming in the Stevenage goal.
In the Championship, Lewis Grabban, who played in two friendlies for Jamaica in 2015, helped nudge Nottingham Forest nearer safety from relegation with a 63rd-minute goal in his team’s 3-1 win over Queens Park Rangers.
Alex Mighten opened the scoring just before the break and Grabban doubled Forest’s lead before midfielder James Garner, on loan from Manchester United, made it 3-0.
Substitute Lyndon Dykes headed in Albert Adomah’s cross for an injury-time consolation for the visitors.
Bermudian striker Nahki Wells notched his 10th goal of the campaign, but in the end it proved to be only a consolation as out-of-sorts Bristol City went down 3-1 at Championship strugglers Coventry City.
Wells, 30, looked to have set up a nervy finish when he capitalised on Kyle McFadzean’s under-hit back pass in the 79th minute, having seen home goalkeeper Marko Marosi make a wonderful reaction save to keep out his effort in the first half.
Coventry took an early lead through Leo Ostigard and doubled their lead with a Matt Godden penalty on 63 minutes before Viktor Gyokeres settled it with a third on 87 minutes.
Manager Nigel Pearson, whose difficult start at Ashton Gate has now seen him lose five and win just two of his first eight games in charge of Bristol City, said afterwards: “It was a poor performance and a careless one, too. We gave away soft goals and we didn’t compete on a physical level.
