Townsend jokes about being run over by pitch roller in Thailand after escaping unhurt

Andros Townsend escaped serious injury after being run over by a pitch roller during the warm-up for PT Prachuap’s Thai League fixture against Pattani on Saturday, before coming off the bench to help his side to a 3-0 victory.

Footage of the incident circulated widely on social media, showing a member of the ground staff losing control of the vehicle, which crashed into the 35-year-old and briefly trapped his leg underneath it. Townsend walked away unharmed and was later introduced as a substitute in the second half.

True to form, the former England winger wasted little time in making light of the episode. Resharing an earlier Instagram post in which he had captioned clips of his life in Thailand with “WTF is Stoke away”, Townsend added: “Turns out Stoke away wasn’t so bad after all,” before swiping to reveal the roller footage. He also embraced being labelled “the king of memes in Thai League history”, responding with: “Trust me” and four laughing emojis.

Townsend signed for PT Prachuap last month on a deal running until next summer. He made his debut in a 1-0 defeat to Rayong FC earlier this month and has since made two further appearances for the club. The previous campaign saw him rack up 30 appearances for fellow Thai side Kanchanaburi, contributing three goals and six assists.

Explaining his move to Thailand in a TalkSPORT interview, Townsend said he had grown frustrated after going unpaid at Turkish club Antalyaspor and not featuring since March. “I said to my agent, I don’t care where I go, just take me somewhere nice, interesting and tropical,” he explained. “He came back with one or two options in Europe but for some reason my gut was just really interested about the option in Thailand.”

During his career in England, Townsend represented a string of clubs on loan and permanent deals, most notably Crystal Palace and Everton. He earned 13 caps for the Three Lions after being handed his international debut by Roy Hodgson in 2013, with his final appearance coming in a 2-2 friendly against Spain in November 2016.