JAMES Ball was more than happy to play his part in a rare start for AFC Wimbledon in Saturday’s 2-0 defeat at Wrexham.
The summer signing from Rochdale hasn’t been named in the starting XI for a League Two game since the 2-2 draw with Crewe in mid-September.
Ball has, however, been a regular on the bench since then, as well playing a key starting role in the Dons’ impressive EFL Trophy run.
With Ali Al-Hamadi and Omar Bugiel still away on Asia Cup duty, manager Johnnie Jackson chose midfielder Ball to play further forward and help Josh Davison in attack at the weekend.
And the stand-in didn’t look out of place, particularly in the opening 45 minutes when Wimbledon caused the Welsh big spenders a few problems.
But Ball admitted his lack of recent game time began to show the longer the contest went on in north Wales.
He explained to afcwimbledon.co.uk: “I think I’ve only played any substantial minutes in the Bristol Street Motors Trophy.
“Those games are kind of once a month and to try and get that match fitness is difficult.
“You can’t really replicate league football, it’s just a different tempo and pace.
“I think it caught up with me towards the end, but it’s tough against a big, physical team like Wrexham.
“We had a chance, first half, where I got first contact on a header and one of their players just nipped in front of Josh.
“I had a header at the back post, which maybe I could have done better with, but I just couldn’t get down on it.
“I was just trying to upset their backline, because we knew we had a threat if we went in behind.
“We’ve just got to be more clinical.”
Saturday’s defeat saw Wimbledon slip out of the play-off zone and down to 10th in the table and now find themselves level on points with this weekend’s opponents, Crawley Town.
The Dons beat the Sussex side 2-1 just before Christmas and Ball is confident they can complete a quickfire double at Plough Lane.
He said: “We’ve got to park the Wrexham game now and move on from it. We knew it wouldn’t be easy with a few players missing.
“We still had a good team out though and we will still fancy our chances against Crawley. We won at their place before Christmas with ten men, so we’re looking forward to putting it right.
“It’s all so tight in the league at the minute and a win here and there can change everything.
“Win next week and hopefully we’re back on track.”
