LONDON, CMC – Bermuda forward Justin Donawa has celebrated scoring his first goal in England in 16 months for fifth-tier National League side Solihull Moors after overcoming a severe injury.
The 26-year-old found the net in 10 minutes in a 1-1 draw at home to Maidenhead United League, the same opponents when he scored his last goal in December 2021 before a serious injury forced him out of the game for nearly a year.
While disappointed his team failed to pick up three points on Friday, Donawa was delighted to be back on the scoresheet.
“I would rather [have] the three points, but I am happy to be off the mark,” he said.
“It’s been a long time, and it’s my first since the comeback in November.”
“I think we were dominating the first half more as a team. I made a good run, and luckily I was found in behind and [had a ] decent little finish,” he said on his team’s social media account.
Donawa fractured the distal fibula in his ankle and returned to competitive action 11 months later when coming on as a 75th-minute substitute in Moors’ 3-0 away league defeat to Dagenham & Redbridge.
The player said the road to recovery had not been the “smoothest of journeys” but believed the ordeal had made him stronger.
“It’s just been trying to get back into the swing of things and try to make an impact wherever I can, and I was able to do that with a goal,” said Donawa, who has scored three times in 22 appearances for Bermuda since making his national team debut in 2015.
“The gaffer [Solihull manager Neal Ardley] just encourages me to get forward and be a problem, to take my man and express myself in any way, shape, or form. I think the goal showed my ability to run behind, and it came to fruition with the finish.”
Donawa’s hopes of scoring again on Monday were dashed when Solihull’s game at Wealdstone was called off because of a waterlogged pitch.
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