Dan Ballard could be available for Sunderland’s clash with Plymouth Argyle this weekend.
Speaking in his pre-match press conference, Tony Mowbray confirmed the defender had trained today following an injury scare.
Dan Ballard left Wearside on international duty last week and was named in the starting line-up as Northern Ireland were thrashed 4-0 by Finland in their EURO qualifier on Friday evening.
It was then confirmed days later that Ballard had suffered a hamstring problem since, with the centre-back going onto sit out of Monday’s win over Denmark.
There was concern that Ballard would be out of action for Sunderland‘s meeting with Plymouth on Saturday, though it is though that Mowbray is ‘hopeful’ that he will return to the team for only the second time this month.
Ballard was forced to sit out of the Black Cats’ 3-1 win over Birmingham City as he served a suspension after accumulating five yellow cards.
The 24-year-old was replaced by Jenson Seelt in defence, with the Dutchman likely to also take his place this weekend if he isn’t fit in time.
Why does Dan Ballard have such bad luck on international duty?
It is not the first time Ballard has suffered an injury while on international duty.
Ballard was ruled out of the remainder of the season when he picked up an injury during Northern Ireland’s 1-0 loss to Finland back in March.
He also picked up a minor problem in their last international break and was a doubt for the trip to Stoke City last month, though he recovered in time and started the match.
Thankfully, Ballard has only actually missed one game this season (against Birmingham), but it seems to becoming a real worry every time he links up with Northern Ireland.
With international football absent until March, perhaps we can all take a sigh of relief and assume that we will have him playing alongside Luke O’Nien for the time being.
Tony Mowbray will be praying Ballard is available this weekend, though at least Jenson Seelt has one start under his belt in case he is asked to come in once again.