Full-back fighting fit for remainder of campaign following bad knee injury
King’s Lynn Town defender Aaron Jones is a hugely relieved man to be back on a football field again.
The right-back played a full 90 minutes in Lynn’s 2-0 victory over Redditch at The Walks last weekend and is expected to retain his place in the side for Saturday’s trip to basement boys Bedworth United.
Jones said: “It was a really good feeling to be back out there. Having been out for a while, I was itching to play and had that nervous excitement in my stomach before the game.
“The knee itself feels very good now. There’s still a bit of swelling but hopefully I can play a regular part between now and the end of the season.
“I’ve been training a couple of weeks and was close to making the bench against Rushden, but the Gaffer told me to give it another week.
“I was a bit rusty in the first half against Redditch but that was only to be expected.
“It was good to get a full 90 minutes under my belt, which I wasn’t necessarily expecting at this stage, and I’m only going to get stronger.
“I’ve had to be patient, which perhaps isn’t one of my best traits, but I trust the manager and he can see from training when I was ready to go again.”
Jones was expected to be out of action for up three months but, luckily for Lynn, his inactivity only lasted five weeks.
The former Ipswich Town Academy player revealed the full extent of his injury which he picked up in the FA Trophy replay against Buxton at The Walks last October.
“Three bits of cartilage snapped off in my knee and it had been playing me up for quite some time,” said Jones.
“I had an MRI scan on it as I knew something wasn’t right and played with it for some time.
“The surgeon made it clear that he needed to nip them out and that the recovery time would be between 8 and 12 weeks.
“It’s probably the worst injury I’ve had and I’ve been quite lucky. Knee injuries are dodgy in football and I’m just thankful that there wasn’t any ACL or MCL damage.”
Although his spell on the sidelines was a relatively short one, the 24-year-old admitted that it went very smoothly and praised manager Ian Culverhouse.
“It’s brilliant to be back with the lads and the Gaffer has done a good job of making me feel involved with the squad even when I was injured.
“Ian is unbelievable as a manager. I was at Ipswich for ten years and played as a professional out in the States and I’d say that he’s the best tactical coach I’ve worked under.
“It is a real coup for King’s Lynn to have someone like Ian who understands the game at such a deep level.”