LONDON, CMC – Reggae Boy Bobby Reid set Fulham on the path to a 3-0 English Premier League victory over Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park on Monday as the hosts finished the Boxing Day match with nine men.
Palace boss Patrick Vieira called his side’s defeat “one of his worst days” in charge of the club.
Reid, 29, Tim Ream and Aleksandar Mitrovic scored, with Palace overpowered by their London rivals.
Left-back Tyrick Mitchell, 23, who has expressed an interest in playing for Jamaica, was shown a red card for a foul on Kenny Tete three minutes after his side went behind, and James Tomkins followed him before the hour.
Reid headed the visitors into a deserved lead on 31 minutes — his fourth goal of the season — as Mitrovic capitalised on sloppy play from Joachim Andersen before finding his team-mate with a pinpoint cross.
Another Reggae Boy, Jonson Clarke-Harris, salvaged a point for English League One outfit Peterborough United with his 15th goal of the campaign as they hit back to draw 1-1 at The Valley against Charlton Athletic and deny Dean Holden victory in his first game in charge.
Miles Leaburn put the hosts ahead just after the interval but Peterborough — nicknamed the Posh — levelled midway through the second half, leaving the hosts, who knocked Premier League club Brighton & Hove Albion out of the League Cup last week, winless in seven league matches.
Clarke-Harris’ header from a deep Joe Ward corner that went through goalkeeper Ashley Maynard-Brewer’s legs following a goalmouth scramble earned Posh their first point in five matches.
Manager Grant McCann said: “If we’d won it we would have deserved to win it based on our first half.”
Three Antigua and Barbuda internationals, forwards, Myles Weston, Rhys Browne and Reece Beckles, all scored as their teams won.
Woking, who ran out 2-1 winners over Aldershot at the EBB Stadium in the fifth-tier National League despite playing the final minutes with 10 men, were given a chance to open the scoring when Padraig Amond was brought down inside the area and Browne, 27, notched his 11th goal of the season as he made no mistake from the penalty spot.
The visitors went 2-0 up and seemingly safe heading into the closing stages when James Kellerman’s drilled cross was deflected in by Corey Jordan. But there was a late twist when Dan Moss conceded a penalty and was given a second bookable offence with two minutes to play. Inih Effiong made no mistake from the spot, but Woking held on.
In the same division, Weston, 34, scored the only goal of the game as play-off-chasing Dagenham & Redbridge earned a hard-fought win over Maidstone at the Chigwell Construction Stadium.
Weston broke the deadlock in the 37th minute as he cut in from the right to get on his preferred left foot before curling a shot beyond goalkeeper Dan Barden for his second goal of the campaign.
Paul McCallum had a great chance to double the home side’s lead 20 minutes from time when he was played in by Jamaican Junior Morias, but shot straight at Barden.
Beckles, 27, gave Cheshunt the lead on 15 minutes from the penalty spot en route to a 4-2 home win over fellow strugglers Concorde Rangers despite finishing the sixth-tier National League South match with 10 men.
Jacob Hazel, a 28-year-old St Kitts and Nevis striker, gave hosts Darlington a 15th-minute lead at home to Scarborough Athletic for his 10th goal of the season, but defensive lapses proved costly as the visitors hit back to win the National League North clash at Blackwell Meadows 3-2.
Despite the defeat Darlington — nicknamed the Quakers — remain top of the table going into the new year.