A horrific start to the 2008-09 season, resulting in only one win and eight points in twenty-six games, left Salford City rock bottom of the Division One North by March, fifteen points adrift from safety with a terrible goal difference. However, the influence of new co-managers Paul Wright and Neil Hall began to pay dividends; beginning with a 5-3 win away against Lancaster City, the transformed Ammies proceeded on an astonishing run of results, garnering nine wins and a draw from their last fourteen games and finally clinching survival by two points with a 5-2 win away at Garforth Town on the last day of the league season, jumping into 20th place as relegation rivals Rossendale United lost 3-0 at home to Mossley.