A CRESTFALLEN Sunderland supporter who made a 5,400-mile trip from Canada only to find that last Saturday’s Premier League match with Bolton had fallen victim to the big freeze has been offered a free ticket to see her heroes in action against Chelsea this weekend.

After her plans to watch Steve Bruce’s team were scuppered by heavy snow and freezing temperatures, Sarah Harriman, 39, from Toronto, contacted BBC Radio 5 Live’s 606 phone-in on Saturday to ask if anyone could help rescue her visit to the UK.

“I was absolutely gutted. I just wanted to see my lads play,” she told the show’s presenter Alan Green.

“I don’t want to think about how much I spent to come here for the Bolton game.

Harriman then sent out a plea for someone to help her with a ticket for Saturday’s sold-out encounter against the Premier League leaders.

Jo Tongue, senior producer of 606, explained: “We hoped that maybe a fan or even Sunderland football club themselves might call us and we could put them in touch.

“We had a call from a Chelsea fan, Pat from Hampshire, whose husband couldn’t go to the game and she offered Sarah his seat. It was a lovely gesture and hopefully it has made her trip to the UK worthwhile.’’ They will meet up prior to the game where, weather permitting, the pair will sit together at Stamford Bridge and cheer on their rival teams.

Despite admitting that she was devastated when she heard that her transatlantic journey looked like ending in disappointment, Harriman couldn’t help noting the irony of leaving Toronto, a city where January temperatures can fall as low as -20C, to find Sunderland in the grip of the harshest winter for a generation.

“We are used to having weather like this in Canada.

All of the football back home takes place during the summer so we don’t have postponements.

“I was caught in some snow on Thursday night walking back to my guesthouse in Roker so I knew that the game might not go ahead.

“But I have still enjoyed my trip. This is a beautiful part of England,” declared Harriman who fell in love with Sunderland following Roy Keane’s appointment as manager.