BRAZILIAN defender Emerson Thome admitted last night he will never forget the over-the-top tackle which left him requiring hospital treatment and resulted in a first-ever red card for Manchester United striker Dwight Yorke during Sunderland's thrilling 2-1 Worthington Cup victory at the Stadium of Light.

Yorke sought out Thome after the game to apologise - and while the £4.5m Sunderland club record signing acknowledged the Trinidad and Tobago international's feeling of regret for what happened, he said it will always stick in his mind.

He said: "I don't want to confront Dwight Yorke through the newspapers, but I will never forget what happened - it may be the worst tackle I have ever been involved in.

"I am not the type of player who looks for revenge - what happened is forgivable but unforgettable."

The injury was confined to very heavy bruising just above Thome's knee, but it prevented him from training yesterday and he faces a race against the clock to play on Monday night against Everton.

He said: "It was a big bang on my knee and it is still painful.

"I am not really happy about the situation, but these things happen in football."

Thome added: "Dwight Yorke tried to apologise to me in the tunnel afterwards. He is a professional and plays for one of the biggest clubs in the country and he knows what it means to have a bad injury.

"I must believe that he didn't go into the challenge thinking he would give me a bad injury and he told me it was the first time he had ever been sent off.

"I must accept his apology but it is the type of thing you never forget.

"He might have broken my leg or ruptured my ligaments and I could have been out for six or seven months or even a year."

Thome admitted: "At the time when I saw him going over the top I didn't realise how bad it was.

"But looking at it again on television I realise now I was really fortunate nothing really bad happened to me."

Thome stressed: "Yorke knows it was not the right thing to do as a professional and he understands how I feel.

"When he apologised to me I just said to him 'okay, it doesn't matter - it is gone, it is in the past'."

Thome explained that when he went into the tackle he tried to win possession.

"Maybe when he lost the ball he didn't expect me to go into the tackle - but I went in looking for the ball as I always do and trying not to catch the player and hurt him. Unfortunately he caught me.

"I am not the type of player who makes any type of confrontation with opposition players. I just try to play my best. I am not the type of player who shouts and says stupid things."

Thome has only suffered one serious injury in his career, when a tackle in Brazil seven years ago left him with a damaged muscle in his left leg, which kept him out of action for two months.

Goalkeeper Thomas Sorensen, who suffered mild concussion against Manchester United, has made a complete recovery and will be fit to play against Everton.

l Sunderland are offering season ticket holders 2,000 tickets for the derby game against Middlesbrough next Saturday for £2 each to mark the club's 2,000th home League game