Nottingham Forest beat West Ham to end a turbulent week that has seen football pale into insignificance from their perspective.
Last weekend, during a 2-2 draw with Leicester City, Awoniyi was left stricken after colliding with a post and despite carrying on for the final eight minutes, he was rushed into hospital within 24 hours of the full-time whistle.
Awoniyi suffered a ruptured intestine and required immediate surgery to rectify the issue, spending the next five days in hospital and being ruled out of action for the remainder of the campaign.
Forest beat West Ham after goals from Morgan Gibbs-White and Nikola Milenkovic, before Jarrod Bowen sett up a grandstand finish with a stunning strike with four minutes of normal time remaining.
Photo by Jon Hobley/MI News/NurPhoto via Getty Images
Photo by Jon Hobley/MI News/NurPhoto via Getty Images
Neco Williams and Morgan Gibbs-White pay tribute to Taiwo Awoniyi
The Reds were desperate for a big three points today, but the team would have been forgiven for feeling somewhat jaded after seeing what their teammate had to go through earlier this week.
Neco Williams took to Twitter shortly after the full-time whistle to share a message with the fans, saying: “We all know who that game was for. Huge win! See you all next Sunday.”
The Welsh performer was in fine form against West Ham, managing to keep Bowen largely quiet despite his late goal, with the international performer vastly improved this season.
The Reds captain on the day, Gibbs-White also paid tribute to Awoniyi after his turbulent week on the treatment table and gave some nice words after the game had finished.
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He told BBC Radio Nottingham: “We’re delighted with the three points but even more delighted that Taiwo is okay.”
Awoniyi could have a part to play at Forest next season
The Reds will definitely go in search of a new striker before the next campaign starts, but with European football on the horizon, Awoniyi could still find himself getting games.
The Nigerian has only bagged two goals this season but in fairness to him, most of his appearances have been cameo minutes at the end of games, with Chris Wood in fine form.
Awoniyi is one of the nicest guys in football and always has a smile on his face when he steps onto the football pitch, with his teammates now rallying around him in his time of need.
Hopefully, the striker can recover well this summer and return ready to make amends following a stop-start 2024/25 campaign.