GREG Halford instigated his switch to Southend United by posting a plea to extend his career on social networking site LinkedIn.

The experienced 36-year-old, who scored on his Blues debut against Grimsby Town on Tuesday night, had been without a club since leaving Aberdeen in the summer of 2019.

But Halford remained keen to keep on playing and was overwhelmed by the level of interest after his post went public.

“I put an SOS out on LinkedIn about four weeks ago now saying I would play for free for the month and it went a bit nuts,” said Halford.

“The first 48 hours after I posted it I had non-stop phone calls.

“I had non-league teams trying their luck and that’s understandable but money has never been a motivator for me.

“It’s always been about playing as high as I can for as long as I can.

“That’s always been my motivation and that’s why I put what I did out there.

“I’m fortunate enough to have had a good career and have a bit of money behind me so the money didn’t matter at all.

“Luckily enough Southend came calling and I’m really enjoying it here.”

Halford has signed for the Shrimpers until January and was pleased to make an immediate impact for Mark Molesley’s side on his debut.

Halford played the final 25 minutes of the League Two clash and was delighted to see his header somehow squirm past Grimsby goalkeeper Sam Russell.

“I’ve got to pinch myself at the minute,” said Halford.

“It’s been a long, long time and a long road back.

“I’m delighted to be back playing and to score to settle the game down a little bit was special.

“I really enjoyed it.

“It must have been about 18 months since I last played and that one didn’t go so well. I came on against Celtic and 10 minutes later came off injured.

“This one turned out much better thankfully.”

And, Halford – who has played more than 500 games in his career – is now keen to kick on before deciding what will happen next in January.

“The contract here runs out on January 14th and hopefully I’ll get as many minutes as I can,” said Halford.

“We will go from there after that and that’s always been the goal.

“I got half an hour here and I felt OK.

“I’m a bit rusty and the pitch didn’t help because it’s quite heavy.

“But I’m happy to get some minutes and we want to kick on for Saturday.”

Blues head to Mansfield Town this weekend and Halford will be going into the game on a high after scoring his first goal since scoring for Cardiff against Portsmouth back in August 2017 “It was unfortunate for the keeper really and it just hasn’t bounced,” said Halford.

“It took him by surprise but it’s the old saying if you don’t buy a ticket you don’t win anything.

“I’m delighted with the goal and you could see my happiness when I did score.

“There’s real relief about being back in football and helping the team get three points.”

The victory moved the bottom of the table Blues to within a point of safety.

And Halford is confident the Shrimpers can work their way out of trouble.

“I’ve seen a lot of teams in this League and there are a lot of teams worse than Southend,” said Halford.

“Back to back wins will help with the confidence and we have players coming back from injuries too.

“We also have the experience of myself, JD (Jason Demetriou)and Macca (Alan McCormack) to help the youngsters so it’s looking promising.”