Rory Patterson

He made his league debut the following month, again as a substitute, this time in the 64th minute for Lee McEvilly, as Rochdale lost 2–0 away to Oxford United.

He made a further seven appearances, all in the Football League that season.

Nine first team appearances came the following season, with Patterson released by Rochdale, despite being voted their 'Young Player of the Year'.

Rory Christopher Patterson (born 16 July 1984) is a Northern Irish footballer who plays as a forward for Belfast Celtic He also played for the Northern Ireland national team.

He scored a late goal in the 94th minute which allowed Plymouth Argyle to draw the match.

Having played youth football for Sion Swifts, Moorfield Celtic and Townsend United, Patterson joined Rochdale in 2002 before having spells with Radcliffe Borough and Mossley.

Turning professional in the 2002 close season, Patterson's first team debut came in October 2002 as an 86th-minute substitute for Gareth Griffiths as Rochdale lost 1–0 at home to Bury in the Football League Trophy.

He joined Radcliffe Borough in July 2004.

After an impressive start to the following season, his performances tailed off and he was released in November 2004, signing for Mossley.

In 2005, he joined the newly formed club FC United of Manchester, where he stayed until 2008 becoming their all-time top goalscorer in the process, scoring 99 times.

He subsequently joined up with Bradford Park Avenue before having a short spell with Droylsden.

Patterson signed for FC United of Manchester in 2005, and made 126 appearances and scoring 99 goals for the club in all competitions.

He was promoted in all of his three seasons with F.C. United and twice finished as top-scorer.

After much transfer speculation, Patterson signed for Bradford Park Avenue in July 2008, along with his ex-FC United strike partner, Stuart Rudd.

Patterson was credited with a hat-trick during a pre-season tour game in Spain, but this later turned out to be a "wind-up" by club chairman Bob Blackburn.

Patterson was on a family holiday in Majorca at the time of his game.

In 2009, he moved back to Northern Ireland to join Coleraine where he had a successful one season spell – scoring 30 league goals, and he subsequently joined Glentoran before moving back to England to join League One side Plymouth Argyle.

In 2009, Patterson signed for Droylsden after a season plagued by injury, though he still managed to get into double figures for Bradford PA. On 27 June 2009, Patterson left Droylsden to sign for IFA Premiership side Coleraine.

On his debut for Coleraine in a friendly against Garvagh, he scored a first half hat-trick.

He scored ten goals in eight pre-season friendlies for the Bannsiders before marking his competitive debut with a goal in the 2–2 draw with Linfield on 8 August 2009.

He then went on to record a hat-trick in the 3–2 derby win over Ballymena United on 18 August.

On 7 November 2009, Patterson scored four times as Coleraine beat defending champions Glentoran 6–0 at The Oval.

On 4 December 2009, Patterson was awarded with the Football Writers Player of the Month for November.

On top of this, he also picked up Goal of the Month for his first of four goals against Glentoran.

Patterson scored his first Irish Cup goal for Coleraine against IFA Championship 2 side Dundela.

He finished the 2009/10 season having scored 41 goals for Coleraine, with 30 goals in the Premiership and the rest in various other competitions, and was named Ulster Footballer of the Year.

Patterson joined Glentoran in the summer of 2010, having signed a pre-contract agreement with the club earlier in the year.

However, in June 2010, it was announced that Patterson had joined Plymouth Argyle, after impressing at a trial in March, and that an "undisclosed fee" had been agreed with Glentoran despite him never joining the Northern Irish club.

On 14 August 2010 he made his home debut as a first-half substitute in a match against Carlisle United.

Patterson returned to Northern Ireland in July 2011, joining Linfield on loan until the end of the 2011–12 season.

Having scored four goals in 18 league matches by January 2012, Patterson ended his loan spell with Linfield to join Derry City on a two-year contract.

His competitive debut for the club saw him score a hat-trick in a 4–0 defeat of Lisburn Distillery in the Setanta Cup.

In the 2014–15 UEFA Europa League Patterson scored 4 over two legs as Derry beat Aberystwyth Town F.C.

After a two-year spell with League of Ireland Premier Division club Derry City, Patterson moved to Western Australian side Cockburn City in January 2015, before returning to FC United of Manchester in October 2015.

In January 2015, Patterson signed for NPL Western Australia club Cockburn City, scoring 19 goals in 20 matches for the team.

In October 2015, seven years after leaving the club, Patterson returned to FC United of Manchester, for whom he remains the second highest goalscorer with 99 goals in all official competitions.

After another spell at Derry City he moved to Crusaders in August 2018.

He signed for intermediate side Ballymacash Rangers in September 2019.

Patterson was born in Strabane, County Tyrone.

Patterson played junior football in his native Northern Ireland before becoming a trainee with Rochdale.