JAMAICAN footballers playing in the top divisions in Vietnam and Finland are having mixed fortunes, while striker Luton Shelton, eager for more match time and goalless in Norway this season, goes to Turkey.

In the Vietnam V-League, the Jamaican forward trio of Andre Fagan, Devon Hodges and Kavin Bryan have spurred Song Lam Nghe An to the top of the table.

Song Lam Nghe, who were ninth last year, have claimed their place as Champions League qualifiers on the back of goals of Fagan and Hodges, nine goals each, and Bryan, who added another seven goals.

While the three Jamaicans have fulfilled their roles as strikers where they are the leading scorers for the 2000 and the 2001, Vietnam national champions with just two more matches to go, defender Obrian Woodbine is struggling to keep his Finnish team VPS from relegation in the Veikkausliiga.

The 23-year-old Woodbine, however, has been doing his part, starting in all of his 16 matches and scoring two goals. The former Reno player has also logged more playing time this season than any other member of VPS, which finished 10th last year in the 14-team league.

In 2011, with only 12 teams participating in the league, Woodbine and his unit only have another six matches to avoid the drop.

Meanwhile the 25-year-old Shelton, who played for only 628 minutes in his 10 matches for his previous club Vålerenga in Norway’s top division, Tippeligaen, where he was scoreless, will now ply his trade in Turkey’s Süper Lig.

With stints in Sweden, England, China, Denmark, and Norway, the speedy Jamaican striker will be called upon by his new Turkish team, Kardemir Karabükspor, to better last year’s ninth place in the Süper Lig.

A Harbour View Football Club standout, Shelton has the ideal opportunity to dominate the attacking role ahead of 30-year-old Sinan Kaloglu and Ismail Isa, aged 22, who together are not worth as much as in market value to the Jamaican, who is put at a minimum £1.6 million.
The Süper Lig is regarded as one of the six richest and 10 best European domestic leagues