He may be coming up against one of his former club’s but there won’t be any sentiment from Chester FC midfielder Kingsley James ahead of the visit of FC Halifax Town on Saturday (3pm).
James, 25, ended his first spell at Chester in favour of a move to ther Shaymen in 2015, a move that was eventually sorted via a tribunal.
The midfielder made over 40 appearances for Halifax in the National League during the 2015/16 campaign, a season which saw the Yorkshire side relegated to the National League North.
Billy Heath’s side are now back in non-league football’s top tier after winning the play-offs last season and go toe-to-toe with the Blues once again this weekend, with James lining up against his former employers after his summer switch to the Swansway Chester Stadium from Cheshire neighbours Macclesfield Town.
But any history between him and the Shaymen is a non issue and the only focus from his perspective is getting the first three points on the board for the Blues.
“It’s just another game of football for me,” said James.
“I enjoyed my time there as a player and things didn’t quite go to plan but that is in the past and I just want to get three points for the club that I am playing for now.
“I expect them to work hard, that is a given. Billy’s (Heath) teams work really hard and the work rate and endeavour will be there. They have got some big players. They’ve got Tom Denton who can be very effective but we know what to expect and we have just got to work on us and how we are going to deal with that.
“We have just got to work hard and come with that intensity that we did on Tuesday night.”
The central midfield partnership between James and Paul Turnbull was impressive in the 1-1 draw with AFC Fylde on Tuesday night .
The duo, well aware of each other from their time in the National League with different clubs, have linked up together in the same colours for the first time in their careers and already look like they could be a formidable combination.
Said James: “With Bully you know exactly what you are going to get. I’ve played against him for a number of years now at this level. He has played at this level for a number of years and higher, and he is an intelligent footballer. We know what we are doing and know our jobs.
“The move (for goal against Fylde) started from us being compact and our shape was good. We won the ball back, Bully gets the ball and settles us down and finds me. We just need to keep doing what we have been doing and get that consistency.”
