July 23, (THEWILL) – Bundesliga side, Union Berlin, defeated English Premier League returnees, Nottingham Forest, 1-0 in a preseason friendly on Saturday night, in front of 15,467 spectators at their Stadion An der Alten Försterei grounds.
The fixture served as a fitting send off for former Union forward, Taiwo Awoniyi. As THEWILL reported, the Nigerian moved to Nottingham Forest last month at a time when the German team was unable to properly bid the striker a deserving farewell.
On Saturday, Awoniyi was welcomed with open arms by his former Union Berlin teammates and The Iron Ones supporters when he returned to familiar surroundings even though they did so by beating Forest to make it a not-so-ideal return for Awoniyi to the Stadion An der Alten Försterei.
Forest had fallen behind to a Jordan Siebatcheu goal in the 36th minute. Awoniyi had a great opportunity to tie the score when his striking partner Brennan Johnson found him with an incisive pass five minutes before halftime, but he missed the target.
Awoniyi was replaced with Oli Hammond by Forest coach, Steve Cooper, 25 minutes into the second half, and the game ended without another goal. Before his return to the Premier League, Awoniyi made 65 appearances for Union Berlin, scoring 25 goals and dishing out nine assists.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
