Anthony Patterson tipped for bright future as impressive breakthrough season continues

Sunderland's Anthony Patterson has a big future ahead of him as he continues to make his mark in his first season of senior football. That's the view of Black Cats boss Alex Neil, who praised the academy graduate goalkeeper after his crucial second-half save proved to be one of the defining moments that helped his side take all three points against play-off rivals Oxford United at the weekend.

Patterson produced two fine stops at the Kassam Stadium, one of which was an acrobatic save to tip a shot from Mark Sykes away from the top corner early in the game. But it was the save he made from Ciaron Brown midway through the second half that earned him praise from Neil, with the 21-year-old showing excellent reflexes to stop the Oxford's man's close-range header on the line when it seemed he must score to put the hosts 2-1 in front.

Instead, Patterson kept the scores level and that set the stage for Elliot Embleton to score an 89th minute winner. Neil said of his keeper: "Patto doesn't say much. He's extremely quiet.

"What he is, though, is an extremely good shotstopper. The first one [from Sykes] I would expect him to get there, the shot came from distance, he could see it the full way, albeit he is agile enough to get across, but his second save, in particular, was a great save.

"These games against teams at the top end of the division are going to be defined by key moments, and that was a key moment and he made the difference for us. We had a key moment [in the Oxford penalty area for Embleton's goal] and that made the difference, too.

"That's the difference between winning and losing at this level. How often do we see it where you play really well, concede one chance, and lose the game?

"It's happened to us since I've