Patterson played junior football in his native Northern Ireland before becoming a trainee with
Rochdale. 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 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'. He joined
Radcliffe Borough in July 2004. 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, 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. He scored a late goal in the 94th minute which allowed Plymouth Argyle to draw the match. 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 four over two legs as Derry beat
Aberystwyth Town 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. In December 2015 he signed for Derry City for a second time. Overall he made five appearances for the Candystripes in European football. In August 2018, he joined NIFL Premiership champions
Crusaders. In September 2019, Patterson joined
Mid-Ulster Football League side
Ballymacash Rangers. A key motive behind the move was to link up with former Linfield teammate
Michael Gault, who managed Ballymacash at the time of Patterson's signing. Patterson departed the club one year later after 21 goals in 23 appearances, moving on to
Ballymena & Provincial Football League side
Belfast Celtic for the 2020–21 season. However, due to the
COVID-19 pandemic, all football activity in Northern Ireland below the
NIFL Premiership was cancelled, and Patterson moved to Premiership side
Dungannon Swifts on 31 January 2021 without playing a competitive game for Belfast Celtic. In August 2021 he joined
Strabane Athletic and in October was appointed as player-manager. In September 2023 he rejoined Belfast Celtic at the age of 39. ==International career==