Notts County promotion hopes could be in serious jeopardy following Jodi Jones news: View | OneFootball

Notts County are set to be without Jodi Jones until the new year

Notts County find themselves unable to call upon star man Jodi Jones for a prolonged period of time, and the impact of that could be devastating.

Stuart Maynard's side have enjoyed a strong start to the new 2024/25 League Two campaign, even if results have gone awry as of late. After eight matches, they sit fourth in the table and have lost just once, winning on four occasions and scoring fifteen goals.

The Magpies appear to have a stronger, more organised defensive resolve this time around.

Maynard has made his side even harder to play against in comparison to the previous campaign, which saw them outscored by only promotion-winning duo Stockport County and Wrexham.

However, they failed to kick-on and realise their promotion potential owing to their defensive shortcomings - no fourth-tier team conceded more goals than Notts' 86.

They still have work to do, of course, but the early signs generally suggest that the side will be much more formidable out of possession while retaining their attacking output.

Naturally, Jones' influence in the final third has been second-to-none already this season, where he has returned four goals and three assists in league action.

However, the former Coventry City and Oxford United winger is set to be absent until the new year after suffering a tibia injury, and it could just prove costly to their dreams of promotion.

Notts County will be without Jodi Jones through long-term injury

Insult was added to injury during Notts' disappointing 1-0 home defeat to Gillingham last weekend, where Jones was brought off with just three minutes to play after sustaining what is now known to be a fracture to his tibia.

The setback will see Jones spend the coming months on the treatment table, with the 26-year-old likely to be unavailable until 2025.

Unfortunately for Jones, significant injury setbacks are nothing new and he will be hoping to make a swifter return to action after previously spending years on the sidelines.

During his time at Coventry, where he had initially emerged as a burgeoning young prospect, he fatefully succumbed to three ACL injuries in as many years.

Indeed, Jones went 1,908 days - over five years - without starting a league match, missing 130 straight games between November 2017 and August 2021 while undertaking three operations.

His most recent injury is obviously nowhere near as severe as those unfortunate turns of fate, but it will represent a real blow for a player who has fought so hard to rescue his career and put his wretched luck from the past exactly where it should be.

Jodi Jones injury news could threaten Notts County's League Two promotion bid

The news of Jones' absence will present huge difficulty for Notts, although it will surely have a different feeling for some of their rivals in the League Two promotion race.

It is set to be a tight and hotly-contested battle, with just six points currently separating 3rd-placed Barrow and Harrogate Town all the way down in 14th.

Naturally, the league table holds limited credence at such an early stage of the season and is doubtless subject to significant change in the coming weeks and months, but there is still a strong indication that many teams will fancy their chances and the gap will be tight.

Of course, Notts are one of those teams who will be even more optimistic than most - and with good reason, too. Their squad is rivalled by few, if any, across the league, and Jones is quite arguably the finest player the division has to offer.

Having transformed into an all-action wing-back after making the move to Meadow Lane in 2023, the Malta international enjoyed his most outstanding individual campaign in the 2023/24 term by scoring six times but making a whopping 24 assists - the highest tally in the EFL.

The first league match that Jones missed was Saturday's 1-1 draw with lowly Morecambe - it took until the 79th minute for the Magpies to score through defender Matthew Platt, and whilst their 18 shots showed there's no lack of chances being created, Stuart Maynard's side lacked a clinical edge.

With electric speed, pinpoint crossing and the ability to dash past defenders on the outside, Jones is simply unstoppable at this level.

His dynamism and creativity are both indispensable assets to Maynard's system and while he does still have the inventive talents of ex-Arsenal prospect Dan Crowley at his disposal, replacing Jones is an impossible task.