Nottingham Forest of England striker, Taiwo Awoniyi received a shower of warm accolades from the club’s coach, Vitor Pereira, following his efforts during Sunday’s draw with Fulham in the English Premier League.
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Sports247 reports that, although Awoniyi played as a second half substitute and could not score against the team that featured both Alex Iwobi and Calvin Bassey, Pereira opined that the striker gave the best he could.
Indeed, Awoniyi came close to scoring, as Forest battled to a 0-0 draw at home with Fulham, who almost went ahead early at The City Ground, when Bassey got his head on a delectable cross into the box by Iwobi.
Forest squeezed their way out of the Premier League bottom three, but their fans were left howling after they had a goal disallowed that would have put a bit more daylight between their club and relegation.
Fulham had not conceded in the opening 15 minutes of a league game this season before kickoff, and while they kept that record intact, it was under threat when Awoniyi cut inside late on but placed his low shot wide.
Before then, the visitors had the best chance of the first half, when Iwobi’s free-kick found Bassey, but Forest’s goalkeeper, Matz Sels got down quickly enough to smolder the Nigerian defender’s close-range header.
Another opportunity fell for Forest through Ola Aina, who went close with a very spectacular effort that hit the crossbar and the right-back later on saw another attempt saved as he played a very offensive game for The Three Trees.
The City Ground was crying for a hero, and it seemed as though fate had delivered one, as Awoniyi’s fellow-sub, Dan Ndoye had the ball in the net after escaping from his marker, but VAR chalked it off.
Fulham also came close again, but Rodrigo Muniz’s goal bound strike was headed off the line by Aina and neither side could convert their chances, so they had to settle for a point each.
Forest could have ended the day as high as 16th had Ndoye’s 63rd-minute strike been allowed or if Awoniyi’s sizzler had gone in, which made Pereira single them both out for commendations.
Pereira, who is yet to get his first EPL win as Forest boss, noted: “We needed to refresh the team to put more energy in. Dan Ndoye is fast in the space and Taiwo was fantastic. This is the spirit I want to see in my players.”
