Notts County’s Jodi Jones: ‘I’ve watched my winning goal more than 50 times’

I t is hard not to smile as Jodi Jones recounts the night before he fired Notts County to Wembley in the final seconds of extra time, a timely moment to register his first goal for the club. “I kept practising my penalty in the front room with my son’s little soft ball,” he says. “I was driving my missus crazy. She was saying: ‘Can you stop now? Because it’s actually making me nervous.’ I was saying to her: ‘And it’s Jones, he takes Notts to Wembley!’ I visualise everything. I try to picture it and take into existence. If you don’t believe, you’re not going to achieve.”

Although Jones’s decisive strike did not arrive from the penalty spot, the real-life scenario was nothing short of intoxicating drama. At half-time Notts, edged out of the sole automatic promotion place by Wrexham after an absorbing season-long title race, trailed 2-0 at home to Boreham Wood in their playoff semi-final. Jones entered with Notts trailing 2-1 and assisted a 96th-minute equaliser for Aden Baldwin to force extra time. Then, with penalties looming, Jones darted inside the box and arrowed in an extraordinary winner.

The clip of his goal has 1.2m views and counting on social media before Notts take on Chesterfield in the National League playoff final on Saturday. “I’ve watched it over 50 times and so has everybody in my family, and probably the fans as well,” the winger says on a quiet afternoon at Meadow Lane. “I remember trying to pull my shirt off; I was just so excited I didn’t know what to do. I saw all the bench coming towards me, the gaffer trying to chase me but he couldn’t keep up.” Plans for his partner Zoe’s birthday that evening were kiboshed. “When I got home I just sat there and watched the whole game back. I was just so