Andros Townsend describes terrifying pitch roller accident in Thailand

Andros Townsend has lived through hamstring tears, knee operations and the grind of Premier League survival battles. None of it prepared him for almost being run over by a pitch roller in Thailand.

The former England winger described the incident as “terrifying” after his left leg briefly became trapped under the heavy machine during the warm-up for PT Prachuap’s match in Pattani on Saturday.

Townsend, 35 and now playing in Thai League 1 after spells with Tottenham, Crystal Palace and Luton, was going through his pre-match routine when a member of staff appeared to lose control of the roller on the touchline.

In a split second, the vehicle veered towards him. His leg was caught underneath.

Somehow, he walked away.

“Every time I see it, I'm cringing, I'm in disbelief,” he said. “It's horrible to watch back and to see what could have been, thankfully I was fortunate I did manage to fall onto the floor at the right time, so nothing snapped as the roller went over me.”

He escaped with what he called “a couple of bumps and bruises” and no serious damage. Remarkably, he carried on, came off the bench late in the game and helped PT Prachuap complete a 3-0 win.

Before the chaos, something had already felt odd to him.

Townsend admitted he had clocked the unusual scene of two pitch rollers stationed on either side of the field during the warm-up.

“I remember thinking to myself, 'I've never seen that before in my career, what are they doing?' But we got called to warm-up. Didn't think anything of it,” he said.

Seconds later, that curiosity turned into panic.

“The next I saw him was when I was literally underneath him and thankfully no serious damage. A couple of bumps and bruises but managed to walk away unscathed, luckily.”

The winger, capped 13 times by England, has endured a career punctured by injury setbacks, including operations on his left ankle and left knee. As the roller pinned him down, those old scars flashed through his mind.

“I thought, either my left ankle was going to snap or my left knee is going to snap. I thought I was done. I was very fortunate that I was able to hobble away and recover within a few minutes.”

He described the desperate few seconds as the machine pressed down on him.

“It was quite heavy, but I was able to kind of lift [it], force it off me. So when it was completely on me, I was getting crushed a little bit.

“I was able to get my left arm up and relieve some of the pressure, and then I was able to get my team-mates around me who were able to lift it, and I was able to squeeze out but at that moment where it was crushing my left leg, it was quite terrifying, I must say.”

Team-mates urged him to head straight for medical checks. He refused, determined to continue the warm-up.

“They were very surprised that I continued the warm-up. They were telling me to go to the doctor,” he said.

For a player whose career has already been threatened more than once by injury, this freak incident could easily have been the final straw. Townsend insists it will be nothing of the sort.

The roller scare, he said, is “definitely not going to stop me from continuing”.

He even managed to joke about it afterwards. On Instagram, Townsend referenced a recent tongue-in-cheek post in which he compared a sun-soaked Thai away day to the notorious cold of Stoke’s Bet365 Stadium.

“It turns out Stoke away wasn't so bad after all,” he wrote.

From Premier League winters to pitch rollers in Pattani, Townsend has seen enough to know he wants to keep playing – and that this time, he got away with one.