Ex-Fleetwood favourite David Ball rising high with Phoenix before football shutdown

David Ball in his final match for Fleetwood in the 2017 League One play-offs against Bradford City

American ace had time of this life with Fleetwood Town

We recently reported that the 30-year-old forward was loving life in New Zealand, having signed for Australian A-League club Wellington Phoenix after his contract with Rotherham United expired last summer.

But the postponement of fixtures has proved frustrating for Mancunian Ball, with ‘The Nix’ and the player himself on a hot streak.

Ball, whose five successful seasons at Highbury included promotion to League One, had helped Nix to four successive wins which lifted them to third in the table before the season was suspended.

The team were really starting to find their feet and nobody more so than Manchester City youth product Ball, who had six goals and four assists to show for his 19 games this season.

Nix have six games to play and Football Federation Australia have every intention of completing the season as soon as it is safe to do so, but for now Ball is playing the same waiting game as all his former team-mates back in England.

He said: “Everything was going really well for us before the disruption of the coronavirus and for me personally it’s been a really good season.

“I picked up February’s player of th month award and two goal of the month awards, so I felt I was consistently playing well and contributing to the team.”

But for now Ball is relieved to be in lockdown with his family in Wellington. After the last Nix fixture, there was a worry that coronavirus restrictions may prevent him flying back to New Zealand from Sydney as he is not a permanent resident of the country.

Earlier this season, some familiar faces helped Ball, who left Fleetwood in 2017, to settle on the far side of the globe.

Englishmen in the A-League were rare before Robbie Fowler made the move from Blackburn Rovers to North Queensland in 2009. Ever since, there has been an influx of ex-Premier League and Championship stars.

Playing alongside Ball at Phoenix are the long-serving Newcastle United defender Steven Taylor and forward Gary Hooper, whose former clubs include Celtic, Norwich City and

“The three of us get on really well,” added Ball. “We’ve all got jet skis and went out together a lot.

“It always helps having English lads around you, who have come from the same place you have.

“Being on the opposite side of the world, it almost makes you feel at home being with those types of people every day.”