DANIEL Ballard says he came through the draw against Middlesbrough on Saturday with no problems – and discussed his battle with Arsenal team-mate Folarin Balogun.
Centre-back Ballard was expected to miss the match after going off with a groin problem at half-time in the previous game against Blackburn.
Millwall would have been without all of their natural right-sided centre-backs if Ballard had been unavailable. Shaun Hutchinson and Ryan Leonard are still out.
But Ballard made a quick recovery and helped the Lions to a fourth clean sheet in a row for the first time in the league since February 2017 as the sides battled to a 0-0 draw.
“I was a bit touch and go. To be honest, I didn’t think I’d be all right for the game,” Ballard told NewsAtDen. “It was probably only Friday morning when I thought I might be able to give this a go.
“I managed to train on Friday and then got through the game all right.”
Balogun joined Boro on loan from the Gunners in January and had scored his first goal for them in their previous game against Sheffield United.
Ballard revealed he is not opposed to having words in the ears of opponents.
“Yeah, especially with someone like that,” he said. “Paddy [McNair] was part of their team as well, he’s a Northern Ireland team-mate. There is a little bit of chatter especially at corners and breaks in play.
“I was just saying to Flo to take it easy, really, not to put it through my legs and into the top corner!
“I’ve obviously trained against him for years so it was a little bit strange playing in a real match against him. You can see his quality and how fast he is, he’s a really good player.
“I quite enjoyed playing against him, I thought it went well.”
Read a long interview with Daniel Ballard in this Thursday’s Southwark News, where he discusses his knee injury and recovery, how his move to the Lions is paying off – and his experience chasing the play-offs with Blackpool.
Image: Millwall FC