Nathan Patterson has spoken of his joy at being back playing football after impressing in Scotland’s draw with Poland on Thursday night.
The right-back was the subject of two failed bids from Everton in the summer as they sought to bring in competition for Seamus Coleman. But after months of speculation, a deal between all parties was finally reached just days after the January transfer window opened.
However, the defender has found first-team opportunities hard to come by since his arrival at Goodison Park. He has started just once for Frank Lampard’s side against Boreham Wood in the FA Cup.
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But Patterson did not show any signs of ring rust as he produced an eye-catching display in Scotland’s 1-1 draw at Hampden Park. Kieran Tierney gave Scotland the lead before Krzysztof Piatek levelled things up in the closing stages.
“I’m really enjoying being back with the squad. It’s what I want to do, I want to play football so being back out there from the start was a great experience again and being in front of the home fans is great,” Patterson said after the game.
“I thought the team played really well, there were a lot of key moments in the game. I had a lot of chances myself but never put them in the back of the net.
“We went 1-0 up, it might not have been a penalty at the end but it was given and it’s a decent result in the end. It was a great turnout from the fans, a good atmosphere and I was buzzing with that.”
Next up for Patterson’s Scotland side is a trip to Vienna for another friendly against Austria on Tuesday. And the Everton defender believes his side are in for another tough game.
He said: “That will be a good game against Austria, another top side. It’s away from home but we’ve beaten them away from home before so I don’t see why we can do it again.”
