August, 28 2023.
Fans have continued to reserve plaudits for Super Eagles and Nottingham Forest FC striker, Taiwo Awoniyi following his heroics in his club's English Premier League 2-3 defeat at Manchester United, on Saturday.
Awoniyi who had scored in Forest's previous six matches, scored the opening goal after just 2 minutes of the match, as Nottingham Forest led 2-0 within the first five minutes of the encounter, at Man United's Old Trafford.
Eventually, Captain Bruno Fernandes completed a 3-2 comeback victory for the Red Devils from the penalty spot, in a rip-roaring Premier League clash.
The home crowd were stunned after two minutes, when Taiwo Awoniyi ran through to put Forest ahead, and in disbelief, two minutes later when unmarked Willy Boly headed in a second.
United's response was swift, with Christian Eriksen netting, in the 17' minutes when he touched in Marcus Rashford's cross but for all United's pressure, Forest still posed a substantial threat.
Former Real Madrid defensive midfielder, Casemiro leveled matters from close range in the 52' minutes, and that was when Forest were reduced to 10 men, when Joe Worrall was red-carded for hauling down Fernandes outside the area.
Ten minutes later, Rashford went down in the area after slight contact from Danilo and Fernandes stepped up to beat American keeper Matt Turner from the penalty spot to seal a second win of the season, for Erik ten Hag's side.
Forest eventually lost all three points, but they surely deserved more for their enterprising play and the relentless threat posed by Awoniyi, on counter-attack.
In knocking the ball pass André Onana, Awoniyi became the first Forest player to score in six other successive Premier League appearances, against Sheffield United, Arsenal, Crystal Palace and Chelsea (away), and at home to Arsenal and Southampton.
In doing so, Awoniyi has scored in seven consecutive Premier League games, thus surpassing a 28-year Nottingham Forest record by Stan Collymore.
The achievement places the 26-year-old, Kwara State-born striker in the same pedestal as Mohammed Salah of Liverpool and former Arsenal man, Emmanuel Adebayor, as the only three African players to have achieved this feat.
More remarkably, Saturday's goal against Manchester United was the ninth in the last seven premier league matches for a player who was not able to get a work permit, when he signed for Liverpool after the 2015 FIFA Under-17 World Cup, to becoming the most in form player in the Premier League, in just over a season after joining Forest from Union Berlin, in Germany.
⚽️ 3 in 3 this Season
⚽️ 9 in last 7 Games
⚽️ 7th straight Game and more to come; www.ckdmedia.ng reports.
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