EFL striker instantly scores on Bundesliga debut to end new club’s nine-game losing streak

Dec 10, 2025 - 13:15

Ricky-Jade Jones’ long-awaited Bundesliga debut was worth the wait as the striker rescued a 1-1 draw for St. Pauli away to Cologne.

The 23-year-old joined Kiezkicker from Peterborough United in June, but injury stopped him from hitting the ground running.

It took Jones less than 30 minutes to score his first Bundesliga goal

In his absence, St. Pauli have endured a torrid season, despite having an unbeaten Bundesliga record from their first three games.

Alexander Blessin’s men have since put together a run of nine successive top-flight losses, following a 3-1 defeat to Bayern Munich.

The visitors, who did enjoy a morale-boosting 2-1 DFB Cup victory over Borussia Mönchengladbach, went behind again on Saturday.

However, Jones stepped off the bench to capitalise on an error from goalkeeper Marvin Schwäbe to score a late equaliser for St. Pauli.

“It’s amazing,” European football expert Andy Brassell exclusively told talkSPORT.com on his reaction to the Englishman’s fairytale debut.

“Header deep into stoppage time, which was St Pauli‘s first and only effort on target.

“To be able to build on that cup win over Mönchengladbach with a late goal is massively important to keep that run going and to keep in touch because everyone else at the bottom won last weekend.

“Heidenheim won again. Wolfsburg won at home for the first time since January. Augsburg beat Leverkusen. Hamburg won the Nord derby against Werder Bremen, their neighbours. So they desperately needed that point.

“It meant a lot to them. And Ricky-Jade Jones is not the first player they’ve got from the lower divisions of English football.

“Dapo Afolayan, of course, was part of their promotion-winning team, and did really well last season in the first season up.

Jones’ late equaliser ended his new club’s run of nine successive Bundesliga losses

The 23-year-old has been waiting months to make his debut after leaving the EFL

“He’s fallen out of favour a little bit, which is a bit of a shame because I spoke to him last season and he’s always loved it at the club.

“He loves the club culturally. He loves Hamburg as a city. So the fact that he’s worked, even if it’s run aground a little bit, the fact that Afolayan has worked, it’s clearly made them go back and scout the lower divisions.

“Of course, he’s had a couple of pretty good seasons, Ricky-Jade Jones.

“But I guess the funny thing about this goal is the stroke of luck that he and St. Pauli, after recent weeks, have really needed because it was the return of the slippery pitch.

“Manuel Schreiber, the very good goalkeeper for Köln, was saying he was wearing the longest studs of and he still slipped over.

“No problem for Ricky-Jade Jones, but it might be an interesting little story about how he got his first Bundesliga goal in future if he goes on to achieve bigger things.”

Posh striker Jones joins St Pauli

Peterborough won’t have been surprised to have seen their former starlet making headlines in Germany after he left on a free transfer.

Jones had previously spent his entire career with Posh, scoring 41 goals across over 200 games, including 10 in League One last term.

Upon his exit, Peterborough chairman Darragh MacAnthony, a regular talkSPORT contributor, revealed his former talisman rejected four different Championship teams to go to the Bundesliga.

He wrote on X: “He [Jones] turned down 4 brilliant champ clubs to do this move, which has cost his home town club a lot of money.

“Not going to lie… it stings and makes me bitter for the moment as the kid has been with us so many years and I couldn’t have been more supportive of him. But we move on and don’t look back.

“This is football, and it can kick you in the nuts at times.”