Strikers sting Bees as Lucca arrives to boost front line

THEY were all on their feet when the ball nestled into the far bottom corner of Brentford's net with 10 minutes to go.

- By SARAH CLAPSON

The entire Nottingham Forest bench stood to applaud the moment.

The away end enjoyed it, too; as did the 10 other Reds players out there on the pitch. In fact, it would take a heart of stone not to raise a smile at this particular story.

But few could beat the beaming grin that spread right across Taiwo Awoniyi's face after the final whistle at the Gtech Community Stadium. It said everything about what that goal meant to him.

The Nigerian has been through a lot over the past year or so. He still bears the scars from the surgery he underwent after rupturing his intestine when he collided with a post during Forest's 2-2 draw with Leicester City last May.

For the Nigerian to find the back of the net in the Premier League for the first time since January 6, 2025, was quite special. Football can be a cynical, unforgiving world at times but here was a genuinely heartwarming tale played out in the capital.

Not only that, Awoniyi’s strike also put the seal on three massive points for Sean Dyche’s side.

Below is a look at some of the big talking points from Sunday's 2-0 win over the Bees.

Scoring strikers

Goals (and indeed goalscoring chances) have not always been easy to come by for the Reds this season.

Lorenzo Lucca was signed on loan from Napoli on Friday with the aim of improving matters on that front and to ease a striker shortage.

Dyche described the Italian as a “target man” whose heading ability should come in handy for Forest's tactic of flooding the box with crosses.

The Italian was not registered in time to be involved against the Bees but the two other available forwards in the squad both delivered in his absence.

Igor Jesus opened the scoring 12 minutes in with a superb bit of play.

It was the Brazilian's second Premier League goal but his ninth in total for the club.