Awoniyi gets Forest backing after penalty miss

Taiwo Awoniyi has received the backing of Nottingham Forest manager Nuno Espirito Santo after missing a penalty in Wednesday’s EFL Cup round 2 penalties loss against Newcastle.

The Nigeria striker, who has struggled with injuries since arriving at the club from Union Berlin, started from the bench in Forest’s first two Premier League games of the season, but he got his first start when they took on Newcastle on Wednesday.

Aside from failing to find the back of the net in regulation time, the 27-year-old also missed his team’s last kick in the ensuing penalty shootout, which saw Newcastle triumphing 4-3.

In his analysis of the match with Nottingham Post, Santo was quite understanding, stating that he let Awoniyi play the entire fixture so as to gain match fitness.

He said, “It (Awoniyi’s performance) was good. In the end, it was clear he (Awoniyi) was lacking some energy, but he worked very hard until the end.

“He had two or three good chances to finish. We want to give Taiwo this opportunity to raise his levels of fitness because the talent is there.

“You cannot ignore the penalty moment for all of us, especially for the player involved in that situation. But we are here to support him, and we don’t have too much time for sorrow because we go again on Saturday.”

Awoniyi will look to sharpen his fitness when the Tricky Trees take on Wolverhampton Wanderers in a Premier League fixture at the City Ground on Saturday.

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