Andros Townsend's Shocking Incident with Pitch Roller in Thailand

Andros Townsend has played in some hostile away grounds. None of them prepared him for this.

The former England winger was warming up for PT Prachuap in Thai League 1 when a pitch roller ran over his leg in a freak incident in Thailand – and he somehow walked away unhurt.

Townsend, 35, was on the touchline before PT Prachuap’s match at Pattani on Saturday when a member of staff appeared to lose control of the heavy roller. As it veered across the side of the pitch, Townsend’s left leg was briefly trapped under the machine.

For a split second, it looked horrific. Then he got up.

The ex-Tottenham, Crystal Palace and Luton forward escaped injury and later came off the bench in a 3-0 win, turning what could have been a serious accident into one of the most surreal moments of his career.

Townsend has earned a reputation for enjoying his new life in Thailand, regularly posting sun-drenched scenes from his travels with PT Prachuap. Not long ago he had joked on Instagram about how those trips compared with the cold, unforgiving away days at Stoke’s Bet365 Stadium from his Premier League years.

After this, he went back to that theme, joking that playing Stoke away “wasn't so bad after all.”

Thirteen caps for England, goals in the Premier League, nights under the lights in London and Liverpool – and now, somehow, a pitch roller incident in Thai League 1 added to the scrapbook.