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

Andros Townsend says he was lucky not to suffer a serious injury after being run over by a pitch roller in Thailand.

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.”