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Taiwo Awoniyi in Nottingham Forest shirt
Nigeria’s Taiwo Awoniyi was more than a handful for Sheffield United (The Blades) as he netted a third-minute header for Nottingham Forest to boost his goal tally to two in two English Premier League matches.
Recall that the Super Eagles huncho scored last week against Arsenal at the Emirates though his team lost.
His goal was later cancelled out with a Blades’ equalizer before his teammate Chris Wood struck a 90th minute winner to see off Sheffield United – ruining the Blades’ 200th PL match in the process.
Forest were back in the comfort of their own home where they won 30 of their 38 points last season, and they were hoping to mark their first game this season at the City Ground with a win. The home side couldn’t have possibly had a better start as they took the lead inside three minutes.
The Blades failed to clear the ball as the Forest players pressed high up the pitch and Serge Aurier whipped an inch-perfect cross onto the head of Taiwo Awoniyi, who towered above the opposition defence to power the ball home, getting on the scoresheet for a sixth consecutive Premier League game from last season.
The quick start certainly unsettled Sheffield United who were second best for large parts of the half as Forest played with much more power and aggression. The only thing keeping the Blades in the game was a lack of clinical finishing by Steve Cooper’s men, as efforts from Morgan Gibbs-White and Brennan Johnson failed to test Wes Foderingham. It took until the 34th minute for the Blades to fashion their first chance, and even that was a half chance as Viní Souza tried his luck from 25 yards out but Matt Turner comfortably saved the effort as a one-sided first half came to a close.
The second period began in similar fashion to the first with a goal coming inside three minutes. This time it was for the away side, as Gustavo Hamer restored parity with a sublime curling finish from the edge of the box. Buoyed by the equaliser, Sheffield United were playing much better than their first half showing, as Souza came close to giving the visitors the lead with his effort from outside of the box that flew inches wide. Forest were clearly rocked by conceding so early into the second period and struggled to contain the Blades.
Awoniyi netted for the second time, dinking the ball over Foderingham, but the goal was quickly ruled out for offside. Just as it looked like the game was petering out into a stalemate, Aurier once again whipped a teasing ball into the Sheffield United box and this time, substitute Wood nodded the ball in, giving the home side a late victory. Paul Heckingbottom will be encouraged by his side’s second half performance but they will have to wait to earn their first point since promotion.
Additional report by Soccerstand
