‘You could see Anth’s quality as soon as he turned up...’

Anthony Patterson’s journey from a loan spell in the Northern League to becoming Sunderland number one, and gaining international recognition, has been hailed by the man who gave him his first experience in the ninth tier of English football.

The Black Cats stopper has been in fine form over the last year and his progression has now been rewarded with a maiden call-up to the England Under-21s squad ahead of an upcoming friendly doubleheader – against France and Croatia.

ThatisallafarcryfromPatterson’s maiden steps in the senior game when he enjoyed a promising ‘work experience’ loan spell with Sunderland RCA during the last two months of the 2018/19 season. Then just 18-years-old, the Tyneside-born stopper kept three clean sheets and conceded just four goals in seven appearances.

And his progression since then has been praised by RCA manager Martin Swales, just over four years since he gave the Black Cats youngster his debut in Northern League Division One – after a previous spell in the league below with Ryhope CW.

He said: “You could see Anthony’s quality as soon as he turned up to training. He was a bit quiet, he was really unassuming, but we had Tom HowardonloanfromSunderlandat the same time and he brought him out of his shell a bit. We had already had James Talbot and Michael Woud on loan as young keepers from Sunderland and they have both gone on to become international footballers. Patto didn’t seem asconfidentatfirstbuthegrew into it.

“It’s funny to think looking back at the time we had to pick him up to take him to training and back because he couldn’t drive at the time but now he is goingontorepresenthiscountry and play for Sunderland on a regular basis. But the one thing you could never knock was his attitude because he nevermissedtraining,heloved training, he bonded with the lads in the dressing room and hereallyexcelledforus.Hewas a proper ambassador for Sunderland RCA and for Sunderland during his time with us. The club are delighted to see whereheisnow,it’swonderful toseewhatheisdoingandIam sure he has a lot of good years aheadofhimbecauseheisonly young for a keeper.”