Townsend says he was lucky to only escape from under the roller with a few "bumps and bruises".
Townsend says he was lucky to only escape from under the roller with a few "bumps and bruises".
Former England winger Andros Townsend has described the moment he was run over by a pitch roller in Thailand as "terrifying".
The 35‑year‑old former Tottenham, Luton and Crystal Palace forward, now with PT Prachuap in Thai League 1, was warming up for a match in Pattani on Saturday when a member of staff appeared to lose control of a heavy pitch roller.
Townsend's left leg briefly got stuck under the vehicle, but he was unhurt. He came off the bench late on in a 3-0 win.
Speaking about the incident for the first time on Piers Morgan's Football Uncensored, Townsend said he was lucky to only escape from under the roller with a few "bumps and bruises".
"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."
Townsend, who won 13 caps for England, said that he did think it was strange to see two rollers either side of the pitch 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.
"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."
Averytin News Soccer update.