BEN Amos has spent enough time waiting in the wings to know how life works as a goalkeeper.

Seven years at Manchester United equated to seven first-team appearances – a total he will eclipse after just seven short weeks at Wanderers if he starts against Wigan Athletic tomorrow.

Initially brought in as emergency cover for Andy Lonergan after Adam Bogdan fell victim to injury, Amos has earned himself the number-one spot with a string of outstanding displays.

But in order to get a chance he had to wait for someone else, namely Lonergan, to suffer a moment of misfortune, which happened when he was knocked cold in the 4-1 defeat at Nottingham Forest.

“It’s weird, I’ve been on the other end of it where I’ve been knocked out but that’s football I suppose,” Amos told The Bolton News.

“Being on the bench, you don’t wish anything bad to anyone, especially someone like Lonners (Lonergan), who’s a great guy. All you can do is do your job, basically, not get too emotional about things.

“Obviously, once you get that opportunity you want to hold on to it for as long as you can.

“I’ve sat there watching games from the bench plenty of times, and I can tell you it isn’t fun.”

Amos’s first act was to face a penalty at Forest which had been conceded by Lonergan in a collision with Dexter Blackstock.

Henri Lansbury put his side 3-1 up, which was quickly made four, at which time Amos must have wondered what he was getting himself into.

“I wouldn’t say it was the ideal scenario to be thrown into,” he said. “Obviously when you are on the bench you need to be ready to come on at the drop of a hat. And I was ready.

“But going on to face a penalty when your team is losing is tough. Having said that, I suppose I didn’t have much to lose at that point.

“I just thought to myself ‘you’re on the pitch now’ and tried to do what I could. When I got another chance I just tried to be consistent – and I still am.”

Amos is contracted with Wanderers until the end of the month, after which both Bogdan and Lonergan are expected to see out the rest of the season.

The 24-year-old stopper is out of contract in the summer and may yet return to the Macron Stadium on a permanent basis. But for now he wants to focus on finishing the season strongly.

“It’s been a fair old while since I’ve got out and had some games,” he said. “It has been frustrating – a new manager coming in at United and me sat there thinking ‘here’s my chance’ but it hasn’t worked out like that.

“I didn’t have any guarantees of playing when I came to Bolton but it was about getting out of that environment and into a proper first-team squad.

“All I’ll say is that I’m enjoying it.”