Patrick Roberts reveals how he played through a torn calf to help Sunderland win promotion at Wembley
If there is one story from that promotion campaign that captures the spirit of that Sunderland side, it might be this one.
Patrick Roberts should not really have played at Wembley last May. The medical diagnosis made that clear. A Grade 2A calf strain - a moderate tear - the kind of injury that typically sidelines a player for weeks. In most cases, it demands rest, rehabilitation and caution. Instead, Roberts chose to play.
Sunderland had already survived two breathless semi-final legs against Coventry City in iconic circumstances. At the Stadium of Light, deep into extra-time, Dan Ballard rose to head home the decisive goal, clinching the tie in the dying seconds. The scenes were unforgettable. Noise, disbelief, bodies piling forward in celebration as Wearside shook beneath them. It was one of the most dramatic nights the city has ever witnessed. Roberts had played through torment to help get them there before being replaced by Romaine Mundle in the 95th minute.
“After the semi-final I knew I wasn't great,” he recalls. “I think I'd done it in the first-leg and in the second-leg, I went out for the warm-up and I just felt severe agony in my leg. I strapped it up and I was lucky enough to play through it. It probably wasn't one of my best games but you had to do a job and it was the semi-final so I thought it was going to be my last game of the season I'm going to play.”
"It was bit surreal,” Roberts adds when reflecting on the drama. “I don't know. It was a long few days and obviously I was struggling myself anyway but when I came off and came off in extra time, you've got another half an hour and you're watching. It could have gone either way. I think they missed the header up in their end. Obviously we get a corner and obviously Ballard does what he does. I think it's more of a blur. You don't really think about it. It's more adrenaline.
“I've just been on the bench for about the last part of the game. My leg's in agony. You still find energy to run up and down and celebrate. It's just a strange feeling. You look back on those things and you remember them games. They'll live in your memory forever. One of the best experiences I've had, definitely. It's a surreal moment and it'll go down in history."
The Echo has launched a new WhatsApp SAFC Channel to bring the latest news, analysis and team & injury updates direct to your phone. Simply click this link to join ourSAFC WhatsApp channel.
Sunderland progressed through the play-offs but scans afterwards revealed the damage. “I had a scan and it came back and I had a couple of tears in my calf and I thought it's not really that bad. The physio said it's manageable, the specialist said it's a four-week injury but if you manage it you can probably get through it.”
A four-week injury, with Wembley only days away. Roberts had been central to Sunderland’s attacking thrust all season, one of the creative focal points as the club chased promotion. He had already played through discomfort during the campaign, but this was different. This was a genuine risk - push through the pain and potentially make it worse, or step aside and protect his future. Many players would have chosen caution. Football careers are short. Contracts, bodies and long-term prospects matter.
Roberts did not hesitate. “I spent ten days doing nothing, just sitting in the oxygen chambers, sitting on the physio bed. I think I trained once the day before we went to London, the Friday. I was in a training session and it was fine. I spoke to the manager and he said, ‘I'm not going to start you but can you give me 30 minutes at the end?’ I said, ‘Yeah, of course.’ The game panned out the way it did. The assistant coach Proc (Michael Proctor) looked to me and said, ‘Can you give us 30 minutes?’ I said, ‘Yeah, of course I can.’”
There was no internal debate. “I wasn't going to miss that game. To be there and help the team as much as I could. Thankfully on the day I actually felt okay. It wasn't too bad but I was on a lot of painkillers and couldn't feel my legs,” We both laugh at this point before Roberts continues on. “I was doing everything I could to be out there and help the lads. It's the last game of the season to get to the Premier League. I'm not going to miss that.”
It was a selfless act - one of the most remarkable stories from that promotion group. A player knowingly risking further damage to a torn calf simply to give his team a chance on the biggest stage. Then came the comeback. A goal down at Wembley. Promotion slipping. The dream fading in real time. And then it turned.
Tommy Watson gathers possession and feeds Enzo Le Fée, who spots Roberts drifting into space and threads a neat pass inside. Roberts takes it on the half-turn. One touch. Then another, so quick they blur. A left-footed slide-rule pass splits the line and finds Eliezer Mayenda in stride. Bang. Eruption. Noise. Belief. Nearly 50,000 Mackems detonate in red and white delirium as hope floods back into Wembley.
“Yeah, it was nice,” he says of the assist that helped turn the tide. “That game could have gone two ways. I remember walking in when it went to 2-0 and I thought, ‘Oh God.’ I saw VAR overturned it so I thought, ‘Oh, we’ve got a chance here.’
“It was one of those games, I love them kind of games - tired legs on big occasions. It seems weird but it feels like an easier game to come in when you're losing. When you're winning you've got to hold on to a lead, especially at Wembley, it's tough. There's nothing to lose. Eliezer put one in the top corner and Tommy's goal obviously happened next. It was a fantastic day but I wasn't going to miss that one for sure.”
Without him, perhaps belief does not return. Without him, perhaps the momentum never shifts. Was there ever doubt about risking it? “No,” he says. “Once I knew it wasn't getting worse, I thought if I leave it for a few days or a week it will feel better and I can see how it goes. It could have gone completely wrong but I still would have been out there playing through the pain. After how many years I've been there, It felt right to be a part of it. I'm just so glad we got over the line and it's one of those games I'll always look back to and it will be forever in my memory.”
Soon after, Sunderland would complete their rise back to the Premier League. Not long after, Roberts would move on - joining Birmingham City on loan last summer before making the move permanent the following January. But that stretch - Coventry chaos, Wembley drama, painkillers and promotion - remains one of the defining sequences of his Sunderland spell. Many would not have played. Many would have protected the muscle, the contract, the career.
Roberts didn’t. He strapped it up, took injections, and gave what he had left to a club and a fanbase desperate to rise again. In moments like that, legacies are not built on statistics but on sacrifice. And that is why Sunderland supporters will always be grateful to the man who helped make it all possible.
Continue Reading