Regis Le Bris' Dan Ballard Sunderland promise after honest admission & detailed talks

REGIS Le Bris is backing Dan Ballard to put his frustrating start to the season behind him and says the defender still has a major role to play moving forward for Sunderland.

Ballard has been a hugely influential and important player for the Black Cats since arriving from Arsenal two years ago but his game-time has been limited in the early months of the campaign after a couple of frustrating injury setbacks.

The 25-year-old suffered a knee injury in the first pre-season friendly of the summer at South Shields and was sidelined for six weeks after undergoing minor surgery.

He returned to the side and started the games at Portsmouth and Plymouth in August and September, but hurt his ankle in the dying seconds of the defeat at Home Park. Ballard attempted to battle through the pain of the ankle problem but another lay-off was required and he missed seven games.

He's now fit again but has only played 11 minutes from the bench in the last two months, with Le Bris hoping his centre-half gets some crucial match minutes under his belt in the coming days after linking up with Northern Ireland. Michael O'Neill's side take on Belarus tomorrow and Luxembourg next Monday.

Despite Ballard's lack of action so far this season, Le Bris has been in regular dialogue with the centre-half.

He said: "I speak with the players regularly. It is one of my main tasks.

"The first one is to create the environment to work together, to give the right direction about the game model and so on. The second one is to be close with the players for their individual project and the place they have in our shared project.

"We have spoken with Dan a lot. He struggled with his knee in pre season and then he came back, not in his best match fitness I don't think. He tried and worked hard for the team, and then got a new injury in his new ankle. It has not been the start of the season he would have hoped for but sometimes you need to struggle to learn and to find a new reference for the future."

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In Ballard's absence in the early weeks of the season, Aji Alese shone alongside Luke O'Nien, helping to keep three successive clean sheets until he too suffered an injury setback. Alese is expected to be in contention to return when Sunderland head for Millwall after the international break.

Alese's injury presented Ballard with the opportunity to nail down his place in the side once more but after his second injury setback Chris Mepham stepped in and has been superb - meaning both Ballard and Alese now face a fight to get back in the team.

But Le Bris insists Ballard still has a leading role to play this season.

He said: "I think he's in this situation right now and I'm still very confident for him, the level he will reach and how much he is going to help us.

"I don't know when, but it is going to happen for sure. I like him and I like the player, and there are 31 games to play. He will play, for sure. If he can get some minutes for the national team, it will be good for us."