Ex-Portsmouth favourite ends 18-month search for a club - then scores on dream debut

Handed a month-long deal by Southend, the 36-year-old climbed off the bench in the 64th minute of their League Two encounter with Grimsby on Tuesday night.

Then, 11 minutes later, he scored to seal a 3-1 victory for Mark Molesley’s strugglers.

It represented Halford’s first league goal since April 2016 – and first outing since with Aberdeen in May 2019.

The versatile performer, who made 77 appearances and scored 12 times for Pompey, has struggled to find a club in the last 18 months, spending pre-season with Northampton.

After training with Southend, he was given a short-term deal on Tuesday, once the Shrimpers finally had their registration embargo lifted.

Now Halford will contribute to the battle to haul them off the foot of League Two.

He told the Southend Echo: ‘It’s been a long time since I played the game so I’m really looking forward to getting some games under my belt and showing that I can still do it.

‘First of all, from a selfish point of view, it’s minutes, games and just playing football but in the grand scheme of things it’s about helping the manager out, helping the team out and we’ll see where it goes after that.

‘I came down and watched the game on Saturday and you could see Macca (Alan McCormack) pretty much coaching everyone on the pitch, winning the tactical free kicks and slowing the game down.

‘Hopefully I can do the same sort of thing and guide the young players.

‘The position we’re in at the minute, we have to be able to grind out results and 1-0 wins are the best wins. Hopefully with my experience coming into the team I can help in that aspect of game management.’

A message from the Editor, Mark Waldron

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