LONDON, CMC – Three players with ties to the Caribbean netted goals in mid-week English league matches, but only one could coax their sides to win.
League 1 top-scorer Devante Cole, the son of former England striker Andy Cole, whose parents hail from Jamaica, helped Barnsley to formalize a 3-0 win against a spirited Shrewsbury and enabled his side to close the gap in the standings on second-placed Oxford United.
At the same time, Shaq Forde, the teenage son of former Barbados international Fabian Forde, netted a dramatic stoppage-time equalizer. Leyton Orient earned a 2-2 draw in an incident-packed League 1 match against Northampton Town.
Meanwhile, discarded Jamaica international Wes Harding scored an early gift for manager-less Millwall before Blackburn Rovers came storming back to clinch a 2-1 win in the English Championship.
At Oakwell: Cole nearly grabbed a 10th goal of the season when he went on a mazy run that set off inside his half, but after twisting defenders inside and out, his eventual strike – from a little inside the box – sailed inches wide of the near post.
He did get to the double-figure mark in the 75th minute when he latched onto a through-ball from Max Watters before comfortably placing the ball beyond Marko Marosi one-on-one for a result that left the Tykes two points behind Oxford.
Earlier, Herbie Kane opened the scoring from the spot in the 19th minute after the Reds were awarded their first home penalty since March 2021. Callum Styles added a second only four minutes later when he received a pass from Cole after a counter-attacking move down the right.
At Sixfields: Orient took a first-half lead when Rob Hunt scored his first goal for the club in the 14th minute, but Sam Hoskins scored in the 49th and 52nd minutes to put the hosts in the lead.
The Os were handed a numerical advantage when Northampton were reduced to 10 men on 58 minutes after Kieron Bowie received a red card following an off-the-ball incident.
With their one-person advantage, the visitors turned the screws, but Northants weathered the storm before eight minutes of stoppage time were added.
Time was running out for Orient, but they did not give up. In the 96th minute, they got their equalizer when Jordan Graham crossed from the left, and substitute Forde got across his man to turn the ball into the corner and earned his side a draw that extended their league run to one defeat in the last eight matches.
At the Den: Only three minutes were played when Millwall took the lead from a free-kick that was lofted into the box and kept alive by Jake Cooper, with Harding able to capitalize on the loose ball and head under the grasp of Blackburn goalkeeper Leopold Wahlstedt.
Goals from Joe Rankin-Costello in the 22nd minute and Callum Brittain in the 51st minute turned the match on its head and gave the visitors their third successive win.
The victory moves Rovers up to 10th place – one point off the play-off places – while Millwall drop to 16th.
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