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First Team

Salford City: Club Connections

Posted by Kelly Gilchrist
Posted on Thu 19 Jan 2017
Posted in First Team

It is back to home league action for FC Halifax Town this Saturday afternoon as fellow promotion chasers Salford City make the trip across to West Yorkshire.ย 

The Shaymen are back into better form having seen a 2-1 home victory over Chorley followed by a stunning demolition job of Tamworth, coming out 6-2 winners at the Lamb Ground after leading 4-0 at half-time.

One interesting feature amongst the Vanarama National League North are the mutual connections clubs share with one another, and Halifax and Salford are linked by several in the game.

Midfielder Sam Walker will be fresh in the mind of the home faithful, having worn the Town shirt as recently as last season. He came to the attention of the Shaymen in 2015 as he captained fellow National League North side Curzon Ashton to promotion via the Northern Premier Division play-offs.

After signing in the summer of last year Walker went on to make 24 appearances for the Shaymen, the last of which came as a substitute in the FA Trophy final at Wembley back in May. He cleared a shot off the line as Town held on to eventually lift the trophy.

Less than a month later, Walker made the move to newly promoted Salford where co-managers Anthony Johnson and Bernard Morley incorporated him straight into the Salford first team.

Walker has managed an impressive five assists in his eight appearances in a Salford shirt as well as scoring his first goal for the club in the second game of the season, a penalty in the 4-0 thrashing of Stalybridge Celtic.

However, Walker isnโ€™t the only player to have featured for both the Shaymen and Salford in recent years.

Gareth Seddon signed for Town just four years ago, after leaving Fleetwood Town, turning part-time in the process. He became a prominent member of the squad making over 30 appearances in his one season at the Shay.

During his time in West Yorkshire, striker Seddon continued to demonstrate his talent for producing large goal tallies. This was made clear in possibly one of Seddonโ€™s most well-known moments during his time with Town, setting a record for the fastest hat-trick in an FA competition.

It took Seddon just 2 minutes and 37 seconds to put three goals past opponents Altrincham in the first round of the FA Trophy, a feat that still hasnโ€™t been beaten to this day.

Despite an impressive season, Seddon left Halifax to join Chester where he played for one season before moving to Salford in summer 2014.

He quickly made his mark at Moor Lane, scoring a hat-trick in his first league game in Salford colours. This instantly gave Seddon the โ€˜star strikerโ€™ label which led to him being picked up by the BBCโ€™s cameras as they filmed a documentary for the 2014/15 season.

โ€˜Class of โ€™92: Out of their Leagueโ€™ followed the exploits of Salford as they plotted a radical climb up the footballing ladder. Focusing on the clubโ€™s famous part-owners, Gary Neville, Phil Neville, Paul Scholes, Nicky Butt and Ryan Giggs, it showed the ups and downs of life as a football club owner.

It was Seddonโ€™s goal-scoring prowess that guided Salford to promotion to the Northern Premier League in April 2015. However, the next season Seddon fell down the pecking order at Moor Lane as injury and the signing of striker Josh Hine kept him out of the first team.

Managing to re-enter the starting eleven towards the end of the season, Seddon scored in added time against Ashton United to ensure the Ammiesโ€™ place in the Northern Premier League play-off final which they later won, achieving two successive promotions in two years. Seddon has now departed the club, now playing for Ramsbottom United.

There will be live match updates of Saturdayโ€™s clash at The Shay along with post-match reaction available on the website and Shaymen Player HD.

Read more posts by Kelly Gilchrist

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