JAMES JONES never imagined he would be ruled out of Wrexham's promotion challenge and miss the rest of the season when he limped off during a key win for the Reds.

The midfielder sustained a hamstring injury in the 1-0 victory over rivals Notts County at The Racecourse on February 17 which kept Phil Parkinson's side on course for a top-three finish in League Two.

Although he expected to be sidelined for a period of time, Jones was looking forward to making his return to action during the run-in but the 28-year-old never played again.

Wrexham went onto finish runners-up, securing a second promotion in a row for the first time in the club's history.

Although disappointed to miss the final 15 games, Jones, who arrived at The Racecourse from Lincoln City in August 2021, was just happy that the Reds clinched a place in League One.

"I only thought it would be a couple of weeks," said Jones, who still made 32 appearances in all competitions last term.

"But it is was it is. It doesn't always go smoothly with injuries.

"Luckily we got promoted anyway so it didn't really matter, and I'd played a fair few games up until that point.

"I feel like I have been fairly lucky with injuries since I have been at the club.

"That is the first injury I have had in three seasons so I was probably due one.

"It was just frustrating with us going for promotion but we got where we needed to be,

"Hopefully we go again next season."

Jones has made good progress and declared himself fully fit ahead of the players reporting back for pre-season training.

"It's all good," said Jones.

"I have been doing my programme, I have been running and I am feeling good now so I am looking forward to getting started again."

Jones helped Wrexham clinch the National League title following a record-breaking 2022-23 campaign and the success story continued after making the step-up to the Football League.

Although absent when his team-mates finished the job off, Jones says it is a squad game and Parkinson benefitted from having lots of options.

"It's a big squad and that is why it is important to have the squad that we do when people get injured," added Jones.

"There are different twists and turns over the course of a season so it pays to have a good quality squad and lots of options with people who can play in different positions.

"Everyone plays their part, whether it is Aaron James playing one game or Elliot Lee playing every game.

"It all adds up to it."