Focus On: Salisbury City

Last updated : 20 May 2014 By Jaybee

Salisbury City were formed in 1947 as Salisbury and joined the Western League Division Two and in their first season won the title and promotion to the first division. Salisbury won the Western League Division One title in 1958 and 1961 and were runners up in 1959, 1960, 1962 and 1968 after which they joined the Southern League Division One.

In their first season, Salisbury finished 8th. In 1971, the first division was regionalised and Salisbury were placed in the Southern Division. In 1978, they finished 3rd and the following year the Southern League, as a whole, was split into Southern and Midland Divisions, Salisbury being placed in the Southern Division. In 1982, Salisbury finished 17th and were relegated to the First Division (Southern Division) after the Southern League reverted back to having a Premier Division,

In 1985/86, Salisbury finished 2nd to Cambridge City and were promoted to the premier Division but the club were relegated the following season after finishing 19th and returned to the First Division (Southern Division) finishing 3rd in 1987/88.

Salisbury finished 3rd again in 1991 and 2nd in 1993, to Sittingbourne, after which the club changed its name to Salisbury City. In 1995, City won the title by three points from Baldock Town and were promoted to the Premier Division, finishing 15th in their first season in the top division.

City struggled to make much impact in the Premier Division and in 2002 they finished bottom by 18 points and were relegated to the Eastern Division, finishing 4th in 2002/03. The following season, they finished 6th which, due to the formation of Conference North 7 south earned them promotion but they were placed in the Isthmian League Premier Division where they finished 12th in 2004/05 but were then moved to the Southern League Premier Division!!

In 2005/06, they won the Southern League Premier division title by a margin of 12 points from Bath City and were promoted to Conference South. In their first season, they finished 2nd and were promoted after defeating Braintree Town 1-0 in the play-off final.

In 2007/08, in their first season in Conference National, they finished a respectable 12th.  In 2009/10, disaster struck. Despite finishing 12th, even after being deducted 10 points for going into administration, City were demoted to the Southern premier for failing to come out of it before the end of the season.

Salisbury City finished 3rd in 2010/11, qualifying for the play-offs, which they won, defeating Hednesford Town in the final on penalties, having won the semi-final against Cambridge City.

Back in the Conference south, City finished 10th in 2011/12, but finished 2nd the following season, qualifying for the play-offs. City beat Dover athletic 3-2 in the final, after defeating Chelmsford in the semi-final to seal a return to Conference National after five years.

Last season, Salisbury City finished a creditable 12th after having been around the play-off plaaces for much of the season.

Barnet and Salisbury met when both clubs were in the Southern League; in the Division One (South) in season 1976/77. a John Fairbrother goal gave the Bees a 1-0 win at Underhill, after Salisbury had won 1-0 at home on the opening day of the season.

In the FA Cup, the two sides met in the 1st round in 1959/60 and Salisbury won 1-0 at home.

Last season, the two clubs met in the Conference at Underhill in September and Barnet won 3-1 with goals from Andy Yiadom, Keanu Marsh-Brown and Ahmed Abdulla.

Jake Hyde scored as Barnet lost 2-1 just after Christmas at the Raymond McEnhill Stadium.

Clovis Kamdjo joined Salisbury City from Barnet last summer after being released by the Bees. Clovis, a popular player with the Underhill fans, joined Barnet from Reading in the summer of 2009 and made 130 appearances for Barnet and scored 6 goals.