Ex-Liverpool striker guilty of ‘worst penalty ever seen’ as Forest record ends

Taiwo Awoniyi was left visibly distraught on the pitch after his shocking penalty miss sent Nottingham Forest crashing out of the Carabao Cup.

One talkSPORT pundit branded it ‘the worst penalty I’ve ever seen’ as the former Liverpool youngster fired the ball over the bar and almost out of the stadium and into the River Trent – leaving Sean Longstaff to fire in the winning spot kick to send Newcastle into the third round.

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After a tense game where the Toon scored after just 18 seconds and summer signing Jota Silva fired in the equaliser in his first start for new club Forest, the game went straight to penalties – with extra-time only coming into play at the semi-final stage.

Newcastle – boosted by the returning Sandro Tonali from his betting ban – were the first to blink as Joelinton’s penalty was saved by Carlos Miguel, another Forest debutant.

But the hosts wasted their advantage as Ibrahim Sangare slammed his kick against the bar, setting up Awoniyi for his chance to keep Forest in the game.

But instead he sent the ball into orbit over Nottingham, to leave the striker inconsolable and his manager Nuno Espirito Santo dumbstruck on the sidelines.

“It’s an absolutely dreadful penalty,” said talkSPORT commentator Sam Matterface, speaking live from the City Ground.

“He’s spooned it over the bar, it’s so high it may well be bobbing down the Trent as we speak. Nuno Espirito Santo can’t believe what he’s seen.”

And no wonder the manager was stunned, as Sangare and Awoniyi’s misses ended Nottingham Forest’s incredible run of penalty victories.

This was the club’s first penalty shoot-out defeat in 18 years – a run that stretched back to their loss against Bristol City in the EFL Trophy [then LDV Vans Trophy] in 2006.

They were a League One club back then, and had enjoyed six consecutive penalty shoot-out successes before their Carabao Cup exit to Newcastle.

In fact, before Wednesday night, Forest had boasted a staggering 83 per cent win rate in penalty shoot-outs, winning 10 out of 12 across their professional history – that’s the best penalty record in the entire Premier League.

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Meanwhile, Newcastle were at the other end of that particular table with a measly 27 per cent win rate in shoot-outs. How the tables turn, eh?

Back to Awoniyi, the poor guy. Nuno couldn’t believe what had just happened, and neither could former Arsenal star Adrian Clarke, who was watching the game alongside Matterface for talkSPORT at the City Ground.

“It’s a horrible, terrible, terrible effort from Awoniyi, it’s almost reached the upper tier – it’s one of the worst penalties I’ve ever seen!

“It’s quite a lackadaisical run-up, but then he just skies it, I would say almost twice as high as the crossbar. It was MILES over! Nowhere near, just not close, it was really, really awful.

“It was astonishingly bad. He wanted the ground to swallow him up, he was inconsolable wasn’t he. He’s got his head in his shirt, his shirt is pulled up over his head.

“He’s distraught because he knows that was the key moment in the shoot-out.

“Pressure can do funny things to players, it’s not a technique thing, he just crumbled in the key moment. He was probably very tired. He probably didn’t expect to last the 90 minutes, hasn’t had a lot of football, he’s been in and out of the team with injuries for so long, he was probably knackered!

“But that’s no excuse for such a poor penalty. It’s tough luck on Nottingham Forest, but I have to say just about the right team has gone through.”