Cody McDonald has thanked Ebbsfleet for saving his career at a time he feared no other club would touch him.

The striker, 33, isn’t expected to play for several months having suffered a serious knee injury back in February.

McDonald ruptured his anterior cruciate ligament playing for Fleet against Hartlepool and also damaged his medial and lateral cartilage.

Speaking on the KM Football Podcast, McDonald said: “You don’t think something like that will happen to you.

“The first thing I thought when I went down injured was ‘I’m out of contract’.

“When you find out what’s happened, the worry does kick in because I’m very family-orientated and they come first.

“That played on my mind but a special mention has to go to Ebbsfleet because knowing that I might not play again until Christmas, they’ve given me another year’s contract which is a credit to them.

“That’s why I’m going to work hard and hopefully pay back the faith they’ve shown in me.”

The conversation with Fleet boss Garry Hill didn’t happen straight away, though.

McDonald admitted: “It was on my mind for a while. I was looking at different avenues and options but fair play to Garry.

“Out of the blue one day he phoned me and said ‘I’ve had a chat with a director and we feel that we owe it to you.

“You did the injury playing for us, you’re a good pro, you come in and work hard every day and we want to give you the opportunity to get back playing.’

“I owe a lot to them at this stage in my career because if they didn’t, I probably wouldn’t play again.”

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