Awoniyi goal celebration: Liverpool icon Barnes is left bemused; Nottm Forest star previously warned by Belgian FA 

Taiwo Awoniyi helped Nottingham Forest return to winning ways on Saturday evening, opening the scoring in a 2-0 victory over West Ham United at the City Ground.

His sixth Premier League goal of the campaign was of absolute top quality as he took a touch to take the ball away from the challenge of a Hammers defender inside the box and showed composure to finish brilliantly past Alphonse Areola.

The Nigeria international was yellow carded by referee Thomas Bramall for taking his jersey off as he celebrated his goal. 

Awoniyi raised his jersey and the undergarment had a Bible verse written on it, 'Ecclesiastes 12:13'. 

According to Premier League/English FA rules, players must not reveal undergarments that show political, religious, personal slogans, statements or images, or advertising other than the manufacturer's logo and for any offence the player and/or the team will be sanctioned by the competition organiser.

Although he had good intentions spreading the good news, Awoniyi was warned and given a suspended sentence by the Disputes Committee of the Royal Belgian Football Association (KBVB) for displaying exactly the same Bible verse after scoring for Royal Excel Mouscron in a league game against KAA Gent five years ago. 

Liverpool icon, John Barnes, who was on punditry duties for Premier League Productions, was left bemused by what Awoniyi wrote on his undergarment as he shared his thoughts on the goal scored by the Nottingham Forest number 9.

Barnes said: "It's a great first touch. First touch on the half- turn takes it away with his body.

"We don't normally see him doing that. I'm just trying to read what he has on his T-shirt but it will take me about half an hour to do that."
 

Apart from the fact that he was walking a disciplinary tightrope, Awoniyi was replaced at the midway point of the second half because his minutes are being managed after recently recovering from a long-term injury that required surgery. 

Ifeanyi Emmanuel 

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