Salisbury enjoyed a very successful first season back in the Conference Premier. The newcomers, who secured promotion thanks to a dramatic play-off win over Dover, suffered a blow in pre-season after their manager, Darrell Clarke, decided to take up a job at Bristol Rovers. His assistant, Mikey Harris, was given the reins despite being just 28 years old and having no proper experience as a manager. But Harris decided to focus on the strengths of the team from the previous season and changed as little as possible from the squad from the previous year. Clovis Kamdjo and Angus MacDonald were the only notable additions to the squad while the core has been kept out. The team lost their first three games in a row but soon started to pick up some good results. An impressive win an at Lincoln in early September was followed by a few other good results and the Whites soon established themselves in mid-table. Harris showed impressive tactical flexibility and used a range of formations from early on. He also showed impressive ability to change the approach during games and the team was definitely doing better than expected and superior to the sum of their parts. Dan Fitchett emerged as the main striker while the presence of James Clarke in defence gave the team platform and security. Indeed, they lost just once in 13 league games from late August to mid-October, a run of results that moved them into the play-off places. The results tailed off a bit after that but the team remained comfortably in the top half of the table, feeling no relegation pressure at all. A run of good results at home, where the team lost just once from the opening day of the season until late March, meant that a challenge for the play-off was certainly on the cards as 2014 started. The squad was hit by injuries though and Harris decided not to take up any additional loan deals. A few poor results in March ended any hopes of another promotion but Salisbury still showed good football and dedication until the end. They impressed mostly on the last day of the season when they secured a point away at Chester and thus relegated them despite the overall expectation that they would be generous opponents.
