Reggae Boyz invitee Brown’s goal in vain as Exeter lose
LONDON, England (CMC) — Jevani Brown celebrated his call-up to the Jamaica Reggae Boyz, for an upcoming mini tournament in Austria, with his third goal of the season for English League 1 club Exeter City on Saturday.
But Brown and his teammates ended the day empty-handed when hosts Cambridge City hit back to win 2-1 at a sun-drenched Abbey Stadium.
Rohan Ince of Montserrat, Grenada international Kairo Mitchell, and Kole Hall of Bermuda were also on target.
There were chances at both ends before Brown, 27, a former young Reggae Boyz attacking midfielder, broke the deadlock on 39 minutes.
The dangerous Sam Nombe outmuscled Lloyd Jones on the right to tee up Brown who made no mistake against his former club, calmly slotting home past goalkeeper Dimi Mitov with his favoured left foot.
Cambridge levelled on the hour through Sam Smith before Paul Digby completed the turnaround with a close-range header two minutes from time.
“We ran out of steam and ran out of quality,” Exeter Manager Matt Taylor said about his side who recorded a club record 7-0 away win at Cheltenham Town in the League Cup last Tuesday after hammering Port Vale 4-0 in the league a week ago.
Brown is set to miss three Exeter matches, including two in the league, when Jamaica take on World Cup qualifiers Ghana, Morocco, and Qatar in the mini tournament which will be held between August 20 and 26 in the Austrian capital of Vienna.
First-half goals from Reece Grego-Cox and Ince, a 29-year-old midfielder, were enough to hand Woking a comfortable 2-0 National League victory over Dagenham & Redbridge.
Grego-Cox fired home in the 28th minute, and Ince, who made his Montserrat debut against Antigua and Barbuda in a World Cup qualifier last year, doubled the advantage with a back-post header three minutes later.
Mitchell, a 24-year-old striker who has played for Grenada for the past five years, put Notts County 2-1 up on 67 minutes at Boreham Wood, firing into the bottom corner from 20 yards out in another fifth-tier match.
But Notts had to settle for only a point after the hosts equalised with a late penalty.
A maiden career goal for Ro-Shaun Williams snatched an unlikely 2-2 draw in League 2 for Doncaster Rovers at AFC Wimbledon, in a dramatic finish at Plough Lane.
Williams, a 23-year-old defender whose mother is Grenadian, rose to head in Adam Clayton’s flicked-on corner four minutes into added time to salvage a point for the visitors.
Hall, a 23-year-old forward who made his debut for Bermuda last year, set up Chester FC’s 2-0 home win against Brackley Town with a 12th-minute strike in the sixth-tier English National League North.
Lewis Baker and Ellis Simms, two players of Jamaican descent, along with Dominic Poleon who is eligible to play for St Lucia, also found the net.
Baker, a 27-year-old midfielder, equalised for Stoke City on 56 minutes but the visitors went down 3-1 at Huddersfield Town in the Championship.
Elsewhere in the second tier, Everton loanee Simms, 21, and his new striker partner put Sunderland two up before the break, but Queens Park Rangers hit back with two goals in the closing minutes to rescue a point.
Poleon, a 28-year-old forward, gave Ebbsfleet United a first-minute lead before they went on to win 3-2 at Weymouth in the National League South.