Nottingham Forest manager Nuno Espirito Santo revealed that striker Taiwo Awoniyi needed game time to improve his fitness and performance levels after recovering from an injury.

Awoniyi made his first start of the season in Nottingham Forest’s Carabao Cup match against Newcastle United on Wednesday.

Prior to this, the Nigerian forward had only appeared as a substitute in Premier League games.

Reflecting on Awoniyi’s performance after the game, Espirito Santo said, “It was good. In the end, it was clear he was lacking some energy, but he worked very hard until the end.”

The manager noted that Awoniyi need to work more on his game.

“He had two or three good chances to finish. We want to give Taiwo this opportunity to raise his levels of fitness because the talent is there.

During the match against Newcastle, Awoniyi played the full 90 minutes but missed a penalty during the shootout, which saw Nottingham Forest narrowly lose 4-3.

Espirito Santo addressed the penalty miss, saying, “You cannot ignore the moment for all of us, especially for the player involved in that situation. But we are here to support him, and we don’t have too much time for sorr

Taiwo Awoniyi will be hoping to make his first league start of the season when Nottingham Forest travel to Molineux to face Wolverhampton Wanderers on Saturday.