Noel Whelan accepts that Stuart Dallas wants to start games for Leeds United, but believes the winger's quality off the bench can help to kill tired teams off, as was the case on Tuesday night against Birmingham City.
Dallas was named on the bench for the Championship encounter at Elland Road, but was brought on to replace Pablo Hernandez with ten minutes left and the Whites winning 1-0.
The winger made sure to take his chance and grabbed Leeds' second goal in injury time as it finished 2-0 to the hosts.
Dallas was linked with a move to Norwich City in the summer transfer window amid his desire for more playing time and Whelan understands that he wants to be on the pitch.
But Whelan, who also praised Dallas and his fellow substitutes for the way they react to being left out of the starting eleven, believes the winger is an ideal player to bring on late on in games.
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"He is a true professional. I've had the pleasure of meeting him and he is a lovely gentleman", Whelan said on BBC Radio Leeds.
"He probably wants to be starting for Leeds United, but it shows the great characters and personnel within our squad that there's nobody whinging or spitting their dummy out.
"They are all willing to wait and bide their time, play for the team, the club and the manager.
"I'm so glad he got the goal.
"He's an international player and it's great to have internationals on the bench and have that sort of quality to bring on.
"When people are absolutely shattered he can come on, produce that bit of quality and kill the game off", the former Leeds forward added.
Dallas will be hoping he did enough in his ten minutes on the pitch to convince head coach Thomas Christiansen to hand him a start this coming weekend away at Millwall.
