The unseen Sheffield Wednesday moment that summed Callum Paterson up - and left Danny Röhl disgusted
Callum Paterson emerged from the bench to help earn Sheffield Wednesday a dramatic win at Derby County on Sunday and typically it wasn’t an outing without a little pain.
Striding over to the bench just a few minutes after striding off it at Pride Park, Callum Paterson held his other hand in a grimace. It’s a look we’ve seen before.
Because Paterson is a footballer never far from a little dose of pain. All-action, willing to throw his sensitive areas where some wouldn’t place a boot, it’s a spirit that has come to define him. As he once said himself, he’s no Ronaldinho, but for full-throttle commitment to the cause, there is perhaps no finer example. His reward is cult hero status that will stretch far beyond his last game for Wednesday, whenever that may be.
A short conversation with the Owls bench, an assertive nodding and a pained expression. A member of the medical staff did his thing and Paterson’s badly dislocated finger was coerced back into place with a snap. He ran back onto the field and by the end of the game had created a Wednesday winner for Jamal Lowe.
“Urgh,” Röhl reacted when reminded of the incident by The Star, his face recoiling. “Horrible! I saw it. It came straight out and he just said 'No, come on!' And they pushed it back in. It was not a nice one to watch, but this is Pato.”
The Scot’s has been a bit-part role so far this season. His 11 minutes at Derby topped him up to just a total of 52 in Championship football this season, though he played an integral role in their Carabao Cup run, scoring twice at Grimsby Town and captaining the side along the way.
The Star reported at the back end of the transfer window that Wednesday had been open to allowing him to leave the club after vast summer transfer movement saw a number of attackers brought in. But much like in the case of Michael Smith, the Championship serves as a course for a whole spectrum of different profiles - and in the rough and tumble of away days such as the one at Derby on Sunday, Paterson provided a match-winning contribution.
Röhl continued: “We know what he gives us, I think in such a game this is a good fit for him. You can bring something different in. I think we know Musaba, Gassama, these are different players but in such a game it is always good to have him on the bench as a sub making an impact. He gets a big, big credit.
“What great willingness from Pato to get the ball across and Jamal to be in the right area. I showed some clips last night from him again. I said 'Jamal, come on. You can do it, you have his feeling in the box'. Sometimes it happens.”