Morgan Gibbs-White dedicated his goal against West Ham
to stricken team-mate Taiwo Awoniyi as Nottingham Forest kept their Champions
League hopes alive with a 2-1 win.
The Reds captain held Awoniyi’s shirt up to the crowd
after scoring the opening goal in the first half.
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.
Forest’s players had 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”.
Nikola Milenkovic added a controversial second, and
although Jarrod Bowen pulled a spectacular volley back, Forest – already
assured of some form of European football next season – set up a potential
last-day shootout with Chelsea for the fifth and final Champions League place.
West Ham, with no such lofty ambitions after a
miserable season, almost took the lead in the second minute when Vladimir
Coufal – who along with Aaron Cresswell was playing his final home match for
the club – crossed for Tomas Soucek, whose header was tipped over by Matz Sels.
Coufal, who has never scored for West Ham in 179
appearances, almost broke his duck with a deflected shot which was beaten out
by Sels.
At the other end Alphonse Areola made a point-blank
save from Gibbs-White and beat Chris Wood’s shot away.
But Areola’s dreadful blunder gifted Forest the
opening goal, which came from a West Ham free-kick.
Max Kilman played the ball back to the French
goalkeeper, who inadvertently passed it straight to Gibbs-White for a simple
finish into an empty net.
There was a worrying moment for West Ham when Bowen
challenged for the ball on the goal line and hit his head against the post.
The Hammers skipper had a cut above his eye patched up
and was checked for concussion before being cleared to continue.
After the break Coufal, still looking for that elusive
first goal, popped up on the edge of the area to volley just over.
But Forest doubled their lead when Anthony Elanga’s
free-kick was touched in by Milenkovic, the goal given after a six-minute VAR
check 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.
Nevertheless, it was Elanga’s 11th league assist of
the season, equalling Forest’s Premier League record set by Bryan Roy in
1994-95 – the last time they qualified for Europe.
Bowen grabbed a consolation when he brilliantly
controlled Morato’s header and lashed it into the net three minutes from time.
But Forest held on through more than 16 minutes of
stoppage time, with Sels making a crucial save from a Niclas Fullkrug header to
keep his side firmly in the Champions League mix heading into next weekend’s
finale.
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