Sunderland youngster reacts after reaching special landmark

The North East-born stopper made his 50th appearance for the club against Hull City in the Championship on Saturday as Sunderland drew 1-1.

“Delighted to make my 50th appearance for the club,” said Patterson to safc.com. “It’s a proud moment for me and hopefully there is many more to come. “I always dreamed of playing for the club. To reach 50 games for the club is a big achievement for me and I just want to keep pushing on now.

“I’ve had some great moments within the 50 games so far and hopefully we can have many more of them memories as well in the future.

“It’s not been too many games at senior level but I feel like with every game, I am progressing and learning something new every game. I just keep applying that to every game, working hard in training and hopefully I am getting better and better each game.”

When asked about his most memorable appearance for Sunderland, Patterson said: “It’s got to be the League One play-off final. The atmosphere, the occasion and everything about it was just unbelievable. It was amazing to be a part of, to actually play in the game.”

Patterson has started every gamer for Sunderland this season with Tony Mowbray’s men in the top half of the table going into Boxing Day’s home tie against Blackburn Rovers.

He added: “I think we are doing well. We just need to keep pushing on and picking up points. We just need to see how high we can end up finishing this year.”