Notts County 3-0 Salford City: Jodi Jones leads Magpies to League One!

By Hugo Varley

It was the Jodi Jones show at Wembley as the winger inspired Notts County to a cruising League Two Play-Off final victory over Salford City.

The 28-year-old played a starring role in all three goals, sending Martin Paterson’s side back to the third tier after an 11 year absence.

All this was in front of Salford boss Karl Robinson, the manager who let him leave Oxford United for Notts County, originally on loan back in 2022.

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Match action

On another sweltering day at Wembley, County punished the Ammies with a handful of quality moments, the first of which came on the half hour mark.

After a relatively tepid opening, Jones unleashed an extraordinary angled ball from deep inside his own half to set Alassana Jatta clean through on goal.

The Gambian international steadied himself before firing a fierce effort across keeper Matt Young and into the bottom left-hand corner.

The opener sparked an eruption of celebration from the 25,000 fans who had travelled down from Nottingham, and the remaining 15 minutes of the half saw Notts press home their momentum against an increasingly ragged Salford.

Robinson’s side looked desperate for a half-time reboot, but a decisive sucker punch arrived just before they could seek the sanctuary of the dressing room.

This time Jones whipped in an inviting free kick, which was looped back into the air by Rod McDonald for Lucas Ness to power home a bullet header.

It was quite a time for the 24-year-old centre back to score just his third career goal, and it catapulted Notts into a position of complete control at half-time.

Second half

Salford came out for the second period with a real mountain to climb but went agonizingly close to instantly halving the deficit.

Just 30 seconds after the restart, Kallum Cesay suddenly found himself through on goal with just the keeper to beat.

However, the 23-year-old former Tottenham Hotspur attacker took one touch too many, which allowed James Belshaw a moment to snatch the ball from his feet.  

It was a huge opportunity for the Ammies to put themselves right back in the game, and while Ryan Graydon had an opening moments later, clear cut chances dried up as Notts effectively marshalled a defensive shut out.

Patterson’s side were content to sit back, occasionally threatening a third on the break, and that is exactly how the game was finally put beyond any doubt.

With 20 minutes left to play, Huddersfield Town loanee Tom Iorpenda cut a ball back to the edge of the box, where man of the match Jones emphatically side footed home a goal his performance well and truly deserved.

The third goal ended the game as a contest and gave the huge County following a chance to bask in their team’s glory as the clock ticked towards full time.

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