Anthony Patterson reflected on 'a crazy year' after the homegrown Sunderland goalkeeper was named as North-East Football Writers' Young Player of the Year. The current Black Cats number one followed in the footsteps of fellow academy graduate and now Everton and England star Jordan Pickford, and current team-mate Dan Neil in landing the prestigious honour and he received the award from head coach Tony Mowbray at the annual event at Ramside Hall on Sunday night.
It marks another step in the progression of the young stopper, who began 2022 on loan at National League club Notts County, only to make a quickfire return to Wearside before helping Sunderland regain their Championship status with a 2-0 Wembley win over Wycombe Wanderers just four months later. Patterson has now firmly established himself as the Black Cats' first-choice keeper and has kept ten clean sheets in 35 league games as Mowbray's men look to continue putting pressure on the play-off places.
Looking back at the last 12 months, Patterson believes claiming a regular place in the Sunderland side has been 'a big achievement' and insisted some challenging moments have helped him develop. He said: "It's been a crazy year really and obviously starting the year at Notts County, to come back and play the remainder of the season at Sunderland, at Wembley, winning a play-off, it doesn't really get much better.
