How do you texture drywall without it looking like hot garbage?

For context, I'm talking about texturing smaller drywall repairs like, say, a patched 3-inch hole (don't get me started on railings not installed to code...) or even nail pop repairs as per the other recent post. Assume I've mudded and sanded and it's nice and smooth and now I want it.. less smooth. To match, say, an orange peel texture.

I fully realize that no repair texturing will 100% match an existing texture, but I'm not going for a 100% match. Hell, I'd settle for 50%. To date, my efforts have involved a paint roller with 1/2 inch nap (something like this one) and slightly dilluted joint compound. The results have been ... less than stellar. Just a bunch of random wrinkly ridges on the wall rather than orange-peely bumps. From thirty feet, you probably wouldn't see it. Unfortunately it's in a hallway that's less than thirty feet wide...

Also, I'd love to believe that spraying texture isn't necessary for a repair this small. I have tried the spray cans in the past (so, not a real sprayer like the pros use). Not only were the results less than less than stellar, it was a huge mess.

So, what the heck do homeowners do for this sort of thing? Just take off their glasses when they walk by?