Daniel Ballard is on the verge of making the League One playoffs with Blackpool after he helped them to their latest clean sheet this weekend.

Daniel Ballard made his eighth consecutive start for Blackpool on Saturday, facing Northampton in another League One clash. In fact, if you discount the three matches affected by Ballard’s senior international call-up, he’s now started 16 games in a row.

The supporters have been raving about the defender lately, I’ve even received Twitter DMs from Blackpool fans excited about him. Over the course of the season, he’s kept 13 clean sheets in 26 games, and they had more reasons to be pleased at the weekend.

The centre-back won 10 of 14 aerial duels, made one clearance and one interception to help his team to another clean sheet in a 3-0 win. The victory puts the playoffs within reach for Blackpool, with two games to go.

They only need a point to guarantee their spot, but the team won’t want to settle for that. They face 12th-placed Doncaster Rovers and relegated Bristol Rovers, and they’ll be pushing to try and finish third in the league.

Not only is the promotion run a great experience for Ballard, it could also set him up well for next season. If the team go up to the Championship, Arsenal will have the option to loan him back for another year in a higher division.

That would give the centre-back experience at a higher level at a club where he already has a guaranteed starting spot.