Nuno Espirito Santo and his Nottingham Forest players dedicated the 2-1 win over West Ham which kept their Champions League hopes alive to stricken team-mate Taiwo Awoniyi.
Striker Awoniyi is recovering from emergency abdominal surgery, having been placed in an induced coma, after colliding with a goalpost in last weekend’s Premier League home draw against Leicester.
The 27-year-old revealed on Sunday that he feels lucky to be alive, writing on Instagram: “With the grace of God, I am grateful to still be here, to still be fighting, to still be smiling, and to be in good spirits.”
Forest’s players warmed up wearing shirts with Awoniyi’s name and number nine on the back, with a message on the front reading “we’re all with you Taiwo”.
Captain Morgan Gibbs-White then held up Awoniyi’s shirt to the crowd after opening the scoring.
Gibbs-White told Sky Sports: “The whole week has been tough on everyone. Wednesday was our first day back in and the place was pretty lifeless, everyone was praying and wishing him well.
“He’s come round on a good path, we’re all wishing him well and that win today was for him.”
Reds boss Nuno added: “Since the beginning of our preparations ‘T’ was on our minds due to the seriousness of the situation, and the boys really wanted to do it for him.
“That was our final words, ‘let’s give it a push’. He is someone we admire, his smile is contagious and the boys did it for him. We are so proud.”
Nikola Milenkovic added a controversial second goal, and although Jarrod Bowen pulled one back with a spectacular volley, Forest – already assured of some form of European football next season – set up a potential last-day shoot-out with Chelsea for the fifth and final Champions League place.
“Huge,” added Nuno. “I think since the beginning of the season we wanted to be in this fight, we achieved it, the last game at the City Ground will be huge for us and we are trying to make something magical.”
The match length in total was 112 minutes and 55 seconds, thanks largely to a six-minute VAR review of Milenkovic’s goal for offside.
At one point referee Sam Barrott went to the touchline to talk to both managers, while the PGMOL later explained that the semi-automated offside technology was “not available” and that there were also issues with the VAR communications to the onfield officials.
Second-half stoppage time lasted almost 17 minutes, with Nuno admitting: ” I was just hoping the game would end.
“The referee explained to us there was a problem with the connection to Stockley Park.”
Hammers boss Graham Potter was unimpressed. “They were drawing lines and I think they ran out of ink,” he said. “Nothing we can do. Not an ideal situation.”
West Ham almost snatched a point in the 11th minute of stoppage time but Matz Sels tipped a Niclas Fullkrug header over the crossbar.
“There’s two teams on the pitch, credit to Nottingham Forest, they are strong and well organised,” added Potter. “The first goal is disappointing from our perspective and we suffered a bit from that.
“We had some opportunities, scored a good goal and just fell short against a team who are in a really good place.”
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