Awoniyi not seriously injured –Forest coach

Nottingham Forest manager, Nuno Espirito Santo, has played down Taiwo Awoniyi’s injury in the team’s FA Cup win over Exeter Tuesday evening at St James’ Park.

Awoniyi broke his nose after a sickening collision and was stretchered off after receiving ten minutes of treatment on pitch.

A 10-man Exeter City side pushed Forest all the way to penalties after it finished 2-2 in regular time at St James’ Park.

However, Forest’s quality shone through from the spot as they didn’t miss a single penalty, while Exeter had one saved and one smack the crossbar.

Unfortunately for Forest, a spot in the fifth round came at a cost given Awoniyi’s injury.

In second half stoppage time, Awoniyi jumped up to contest a ball but it was punched to safety by Exeter goalkeeper, Joe Whitworth.

But in the process of punching the ball, Whitworth caught Awoniyi square in the face as the pair fell to the ground.

Medical staff from both sets of teams raced onto the pitch to treat their respective players.

It quickly emerged Awoniyi required serious treatment when blood began pouring from his nose.

The Nigerian forward was eventually loaded onto a stretcher and taken from the field as fans at St James’ Park applauded him off the field.

A ‘groggy’ Awoniyi was seen ’walking unaided’ from the medical centre at St James’ Park back to Forest’s dressing room.

Meanwhile, Nuno told talkSPORT after the game: “I think he broke his nose, but he’s walking around smiling. “He did an amazing job, he did really well today.”

Awoniyi’s incident came near the end of what was a pulsating fourth round tie in regular time.