It's been an interesting month for the Ammies as former-Swindon and Oldham boss Richie Wellens was installed as their new manager.
Salford parted company with Graham Alexander, despite what had been a solid start to the campaign, and Paul Scholes took over as caretaker in the interim period as October motored along.
Wellens is in until the summer of 2023 and was appointed for his attacking style of play having guided the Robins to promotion from League Two.
Veteran winger George Boyd was announced as a new arrival just hours before Wellens took post, with midfielder Joey Jones leaving the club by mutual consent as his two-year deal was cut short.
It's been a decent run of results for the new manager, albeit it needed extra time against Hartlepool to get through to the second round of the FA Cup.
Newport ended that cup run on Saturday when they took advantage of an early second half red card for Brandon Thomas-Asante. Three goals followed and there was no reply from the Ammies.
Home league victories over Morecambe and Bradford recitified the blemish of a defeat against local rivals Bolton, and our midweek visitors head into the game just one point behind United and one place outside the play-off spots.
He's been mentioned before, but veteran forward George Boyd still has the pace and guile to cause any defence a problem.
Older United fans will remember him coming off the bench at Stevenage to terrorise the defence and turn the game on its head. His career followed an upward trajectory from that moment on.
He was a free agent up until a few weeks ago, and if he's on his game he'll need to be closely marshalled.
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These teams have met just once before, at the start of 2019/20 season. An early lead for the Blues from an Olufela Olomola goal was turned on its head as Salford's Emmanuel Dieseruvwe and Danny Whitehead scored in quick succession to put the visitors ahead as half-time approached. Stefan Scougall completed the scoring moments before the break, and that was it for the day as it ended all-square at 2-2.
Watch the highlights from that game here:
Referee - Graham Salisbury
Assistant Referee 1 - Conor Brown
Assistant Referee 2 - Joe Simpson
Fourth Official - Matthew Dicicco
The referee for this game is Mr Graham Salisbury. He has taken charge of nine games so far this season, showing 28 yellow cards.
He was here just two months ago for our opening league game of the campaign. Josh Kayode and Omari Patrick scored our goals in a 2-0 victory over Southend, and Nick Anderton went in the book.
Graham was our match official for the last game before lockdown in March 2020 - our 2-0 home victory over Newport County. Omari Patrick and Josh Kayode scored our goals that day as well, and Aaron Hayden and Nick Anderton were shown yellow cards. County had defender Ryan Inniss sent off just before the break.
Prior to that we last had him as the man in charge for the visit of Swindon Town in February 2020. Edmonds-Green put the Robins ahead, but Aaron Hayden pounced with the equaliser just after the hour mark. There were no names taken on the day.
He was also the referee for the November 2019 Leasing.com Trophy group game at Morecambe. Jarrad Branthwaite scored for United, but goals from Tutte, Wildig and Conlan kept the points at the Globe Arena.
Prior to that he was the man with the whistle for our long trip to Forest Green in March 2019. Nathan Thomas bagged our goal in a 1-1 draw and Tom Parkes was the only name to be taken on the night.
Back to 2018 and he was in charge for the 4-0 away victory at Swindon, just before Christmas. Ashley Nadesan, Regan Slater (2) and Jamie Devitt scored our goals and there were no United names taken on the day.
The first time we saw him in the 2018/19 season was on the opening day when we made the long trip south to face Exeter City. Nicky Law and Jonathan Forte put the Grecians two goals to the good with less than 30 minutes played, but Richie Bennett gave the Blues hope when he struck back just before the break. United battled away, but a late sucker punch from Tristan Abrahams kept the points in Exeter. Jamie Devitt was the only name taken on the day.
A regular referee of our games over the years [including the Wembley final against Southampton in 2010] still one of his busiest evenings with us was for the Checkatrade Trophy group game at Fleetwood in August 2017. A total of 10 cards were shown - including a red for Harvey Rodgers - with Danny Grainger, Mark Ellis, Jamie Devitt, Gary Liddle, Tom Miller and Hallam Hope going in the book for the Blues.
Available match ticket information will be posted on the official website today.
