'I thought I was done': Andros Townsend breaks silence after being run over by pitch roller | OneFootball

Ex-England man worried ‘my knee was going to snap’

The former Crystal Palace and Tottenham winger, who is now plying his trade at PT Prachuap, sparked widespread concern last week as viral footage emerged of him being hit with a pitch roller while warming up for a match.

His team-mates appeared shocked as Townsend disappeared under the machine, but Townsend escaped unscathed and later came off the bench as a substitute.

And Townsend has now lifted the lid on the frightening ordeal, saying he was lucky to get away without breaking a bone.

“I didn't see it coming,” he said, speaking on Piers Morgan’s Football Uncensored. “It was at half-time, we were going out to warm up. I saw two rollers on either side of the pitch.

Andros Townsend was run over by a pitch roller

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“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.

“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.

“Every time I see it, I'm cringing, I'm in disbelief. My kids thought it was AI.

“It's horrible to watch back and to see what could have been but, like I said, 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.”

It was a frightening ordeal for the ITV pundit, who revealed he feared being crushed at the time before his team-mates swooped in to help lift the roller.

Andros Townsend represented Luton Town in his most recent stint in English football

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

“But I was able to push it up, as you can see, as it falls on me, I was able to get my left arm up and relieve some of the pressure.

“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 was thinking I was done because it was my ankle, which I've had operated on. It was up my left knee, which I've had operated on.

“So 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.”

“I've been around the block, I've had my setbacks, I've had my injury issues. A roller is definitely not going to stop me from continuing, that's for sure, so I was able to carry on.”