Gab Sutton's EFL Team of the Week: Jodi Jones stars for Notts County

• Gab Sutton is a football expert who specialises in the Sky Bet EFL.

After every weekend of action, he builds an EFL Team of the Week and picks out a Sporting Life Star performer.

Goalkeeper

Nick Townsend (Newport): Townsend starred in Newport’s 1-0 win at Doncaster, making a stunning stop in pushing Joe Ironside’s volley onto the bar, before denying Billy Waters and Luke Molyneux.

Those saves kept the game goalless, so Bristol City loanee Seb Palmer-Houlden could fire home from Lewis Payne’s cross in injury-time, giving the Exiles a victory that lifts them 15 points above the drop zone.

This had looked an arduous season in prospect for County, with the loss of numerous key players, with survival very much the modus operandi – Graham Coughlan looks to be delivering on that objective, with Townsend’s saves helping them along the way.

Defence

Theo Vassell (Salford): Vassell was playing his first game in around a month, and second since November, but his lack of match practice didn’t show in Salford’s 1-0 victory at Crawley.

The Ammies dominated the game, Karl Robinson’s second in charge, creating far more chances than their hosts, thanks in no small way to Vassell’s pairing with Curtis Tilt.

Winning five aerial duals, the 27-year-old was dominant at the back, giving the midfield a platform to control proceedings.

Joe Rodon (Leeds): Leeds are arguably short on creativity in midfield, because so much of the double-pivot’s duty in Daniel Farke’s 4-2-3-1 is to provide the defensive insurance required for the attacking quartet to rotate and interchange freely.

As such, the Whites do rely on their centre-backs for ball-progression, and few in the Championship provide it better than Joe Rodon.

The 26-year-old completed 93% of his passes in Saturday’s 3-0 victory at Cardiff, whilst still advancing it into good areas.

Dan Happe (Leyton Orient): Happe would have been disappointed to miss out on Leyton Orient’s second half of the title-winning campaign, having been so crucial into getting the team into an excellent position.

The homegrown defender is making up for lost time in League One, though, and it’s no surprise to see him thriving alongside Omar Beckles – the only thing separating him from a Championship centre-back is a decent turn of pace.

The O’s have kept seven clean sheets in the 21 league games Happe has started, and it’s no surprise with commanding performances like the one in Saturday’s 3-0 victory at Leyton Orient.

Midfield

Corey O’Keeffe (Barnsley): O’Keeffe has been hit-and-miss since signing for Barnsley from Forest Green, and it may be that a stricter lens is applied to his performances with fans wanting to see Jordan Williams claim his position and rediscover the partnership he had with Adam Phillips last season, rather than be wasted at right centre-back.

With that in mind, the Brummie has come through a sticky opening period at Oakwell admirably, and shone in Saturday's 2-1 win over prospective Play-Off rivals Bristol Rovers, showing great movement to finish at the back-post.

Flynn Downes (Southampton): Downes has had a transformative impact at Southampton.

Before he came into the team in late September, it could be seen what boss Russ Martin was trying to do, but the Saints looked wide open in transitions as Shea Charles toiled defensively at the base of midfield.

Downes fits smoothly into the possession-heavy style Martin wants but, crucially, he does the basics well too and his defensive intelligence makes him a key player for the promotion-chasers, now 20 unbeaten.

Jordan Brown (Leyton Orient): Brown has captured the hearts of O’s this season with his driven, tenacious performances at the base of midfield.

The 22-year-old ran the show in Saturday’s stunning 3-0 victory at Portsmouth, as the East Londoners moved into the top 10 with 13 points from their last six games.

Brown already has three goals this season, and if he can start to add a few more to his game, he’ll very quickly become one of the best midfielders in League One.

Jodi Jones (Notts County): Jones now has a stunning 16 assists for the season, which is more than any player achieved in the whole of 2022-23 across the entire EFL.

A quarter of those came in Notts County’s 5-5 draw at Grimsby, where the left wing-back produced a searching cross for David McGoldrick at the back-post, similar ball into the danger area for Macaulay Langstaff and Aaron Nemane to prod and chest home respectively, before setting up the latter from a deeper position.

For all four, the quality of Jones’ deliveries were exemplary, highlighting the quality County possess for the level – in some respects, despite the speed of their rise, it’d be almost a waste for the Magpies to finish outside the top three through not fixing their defensive issues.

Forwards

Tom Fellows (West Brom): Fellows has been a breath of fresh air to the Albion, and the Championship. The 20-year-old brings rapid pace, makes penetrative runs with or without the ball, and offers bags of exuberance to lifts those around him.

After impressing in the 4-1 FA Cup win over Aldershot, Fellows was entrusted with his second league start of the campaign, as the Baggies beat Blackburn by the same scoreline.

The homegrown prospect has been used primarily as an impact substitute this season, but more performances like the one on Saturday and he’ll become one of the first names on the teamsheet.

Che Adams (Southampton): It looked as though Adams would depart Southampton this January, possibly for the Premier League.

Russ Martin had preferred a false nine in Charly Alcaraz up top, converted from midfield, but that arrangement left the Saints short of both a focal point and a goalscoring presence.

More recently, though, Adams has learnt the nuances of the requirements of the central forward in Martin’s system, and has met them as well as providing firepower.

The former Birmingham forward led the line superbly in Saturday's 4-0 victory over Sheffield Wednesday, as the Saints stay hot on the heels of Ipswich, within three points of second.

Abraham Odoh (Harrogate): Earlier in his career, Odoh was associated with short, sporadic bursts of electricity in otherwise flat performances, especially at a struggling Rochdale side.

A better culture, better players, and better coaching and perhaps man management, though, has made a difference for the 23-year-old at Harrogate.

The Sulphurites have won five of their last seven league games, and in those Odoh has grabbed four goals and three assists, including one of each in both of the previous two.

The versatile forward is adding another layer of consistency and productivity to his game, and more performances like the one in Saturday’s 2-0 victory at Forest Green will make him an asset for the North Yorkshire club, in the summer transfer window and in this one.

Head coach

Richie Wellens (Leyton Orient): In mid-December’s trip to Cheltenham, Leyton Orient were trailing to the 10-man strugglers, relying on counter-attacks to create chances as the threat of a ninth game without a win loomed large.

Richie Wellens made a few key substitutions that day, though, and the introduction of Shaq Forde and Max Sanders changed both that game, which they went on to win 2-1 with a rally in the last five minutes, and Orient’s momentum.

The O’s have since taken 13 points from six games, and a month later, Forde and Sanders were the ones combining for the opener as they starred in a 3-0 trouncing of leaders Portsmouth on their own turf.

The East Londoners are into the top 10, and League One’s freshly-promoted side need only another 15 points to secure their divisional status for another season, thanks to Wellens’ excellent work.

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