Taiwo Awoniyi back amongst the goals in Forest’s 3-2 defeat to West Ham

Taiwo Awoniyi back amongst the goals in Forest’s 3-2 defeat to West Ham
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Nottingham Forest striker Taiwo Awoniyi got himself on the scoresheet in his side's 3-2 defeat to West Ham United on Sunday.

Awoniyi, who recently returned from a brief injury layoff, was handed a second start in a row as Forest looked to make it back-to-back wins following last week's 2-0 victory over Aston Villa.

Awoniyi and Forest could not have asked for a worse start to the game as they went behind after just three minutes to Lucas Paqueta's early strike.

Having gone behind, Forest started to show more attacking endeavour as the game progressed and came close to drawing level just shy of the half-time whistle through Morgan Gibbs-White, whose effort was saved by Alphonse Areola.

Taiwo Awoniyi back in the goals

The resulting rebound, however, fell to Taiwo Awoniyi, and the Nigerian had the simple task of firing the ball home for his fourth league goal of the campaign.

Taiwo Awoniyi
Photo by Icon sport

The equaliser was also Awoniyi's first goal since August and he will now be looking to embark on another scoring run like he did between the latter stages of last season and the early exchanges of the current campaign.

Looking to pick up where he left off moments before the interval, Awoniyi kicked off the second half with the wind in his sails and could have easily doubled his tally three minutes into the second period, only for the striker to throw away a gilt-edged chance.

Fresh off the back of his opener in the 2-0 victory over Villa, Awoniyi's international teammate Ola Aina found the back of the net for the second straight game and put Forest ahead for the first time on the day.

The lead would last only three minutes as Jarrod Bowen restored parity for West Ham to set up a frenetic finale at the London Stadium.

Taiwo Awoniyi was subbed off 15 minutes from the end of regulation time and would have hoped that his strike would be enough to secure a point.

Still, it was not to be as Tomas Soucek grabbed a late winner for West Ham to break Forest's resolve and leave them 15th in the Premier League table.

This article was most recently revised and updated 12 months ago

Avid football fan who enjoys writing about the beautiful game. Firm believer of the notion that attack is the best form of defence.