1997–98 Football Conference

The Football Conference season of 1997–98 was the nineteenth season of the Football Conference, also known as the Vauxhall Conference for sponsorship reasons.

Contents

Changes since the previous season

Final League Table[1]

Conference National
Season 1997–98
Champions Halifax Town (1st Football Conference title)
Direct promotion Halifax Town
Conference League Cup winners Morecambe
FA Trophy winners Cheltenham Town (1st FA Trophy title)
Relegated to Level 6 Gateshead,
Slough Town,
Stalybridge Celtic
Matches played 462
Goals scored 1344 (2.91 per match)
Top goalscorer Geoff Horsfield (Halifax Town), 30
Biggest home win Farnborough Town – Stalybridge Celtic 6–0 (20 Dec 1997)
Biggest away win Morecambe – Hereford 1–5 (1 Nov 1997);
Stevenage – Hayes 1–5 (1 Sep 1997) ;
Dover – Kidderminster 0–4 (20 Sep 1997);
Kettering – Rushden & Diamonds 0–4 (21 Feb 1998);
Leek – Kettering 0–4 (31 Mar 1998)
Highest scoring Hayes – Yeovil Town 6–4 (14 Feb 1998);
Rushden & Diamonds – Farnborough Town 5–5 (13 Sep 1997)
Longest winning run Halifax Town, 8 matches
Longest unbeaten run Cheltenham Town, 17 matches
Longest losing run Farnborough Town, Stalybridge Celtic, 7 matches
Highest attendance Halifax Town v Cheltenham Town, 6,357 (25 Apr 1998)
Lowest attendance ?
Average attendance ?
Locations of the Football Conference 1997–1998 teams
Locations of the Football Conference London teams 1997–1998
Pos Team Pld W D L F A W D L F A F A GD Pts Notes
1 Halifax Town 42 17 4 0 51 15 8 8 5 23 28 74 43 + 31 87
2 Cheltenham Town 42 15 4 2 39 15 8 5 8 24 28 63 43 + 20 78
3 Woking 42 14 3 4 47 22 8 5 8 25 24 72 46 + 26 74
4 Rushden & Diamonds 42 12 4 5 44 26 11 1 9 35 31 79 57 + 22 74
5 Morecambe 42 11 4 6 35 30 10 6 5 42 34 77 64 + 13 73
6 Hereford United 42 11 7 3 30 19 7 6 8 26 30 56 49 + 7 67
7 Hednesford Town 42 14 4 3 28 12 4 8 9 31 38 59 50 + 9 66
8 Slough Town 42 10 6 5 34 21 8 4 9 24 28 58 49 + 9 64 [notes 1]
9 Northwich Victoria 42 8 9 4 34 24 7 6 8 29 35 63 59 + 4 60
10 Welling United 42 11 5 5 39 27 6 4 11 25 35 64 62 + 2 60
11 Yeovil Town 42 14 3 4 45 24 3 5 13 28 39 73 63 + 10 59
12 Hayes 42 10 4 7 36 25 6 6 9 26 27 62 52 + 10 58
13 Dover Athletic 42 10 4 7 34 29 5 6 10 26 41 60 70 – 10 55
14 Kettering Town 42 8 6 7 29 29 5 7 9 24 31 53 60 – 7 52
15 Stevenage Borough 42 8 8 5 35 27 5 4 12 24 36 59 63 – 4 51
16 Southport 42 9 5 7 32 26 4 6 11 24 32 56 58 – 2 50
17 Kidderminster Harriers 42 6 8 7 32 31 5 6 10 24 32 56 63 – 7 47
18 Farnborough Town 42 10 3 8 37 27 2 5 14 19 43 56 70 – 14 44
19 Leek Town 42 8 8 5 34 26 2 6 13 18 41 52 67 – 15 44
20 Telford United 42 6 7 8 25 31 4 5 12 28 45 53 76 – 23 42
21 Gateshead 42 7 6 8 32 35 1 5 15 19 52 51 87 – 36 35 Relegated to the Northern Premier League
22 Stalybridge Celtic 42 6 5 10 33 38 1 3 17 15 55 48 93 – 45 29 Relegated to the Northern Premier League
  1. ^ Slough Town were demoted because their ground did not meet Conference National requirements. They were demoted to the Isthmian Premier League.
Key
Football Conference Champions, promoted to Football League Division Three
FA Trophy winners
Conference League Cup winners
Relegated from the The Football League
New club in the Conference, see also Cheltenham Town
Relegated to Level 6

Results[1]

Home \ Away1 CHL DOV FAR GAT HAL HAY HED HER KET KID LKT MOR NOR R&D SLO SOU STL STB TEL WEL WOK YEO
Cheltenham Town 3–1 1–0 2–0 4–0 2–1 1–0 1–2 2–0 0–1 1–1 2–1 3–2 2–0 1–1 2–0 2–0 1–1 3–1 1–1 3–2 2–0
Dover Athletic 3–0 2–2 0–1 0–1 1–0 1–3 1–1 0–0 0–4 2–1 2–3 4–0 0–3 2–1 3–1 3–1 1–1 6–3 2–1 0–2 1–0
Farnborough Town 1–2 1–0 4–0 1–2 0–2 1–3 0–2 3–2 3–3 2–0 0–2 2–3 2–0 1–0 3–2 6–0 1–2 1–0 0–0 3–0 2–2
Gateshead 0–0 1–2 3–0 2–2 1–1 2–5 1–1 2–0 2–0 0–2 1–4 2–2 2–1 5–1 0–2 3–3 2–1 0–2 2–1 1–2 0–3
Halifax Town 1–1 1–1 1–0 2–0 1–1 1–1 3–0 3–0 2–1 2–1 5–1 4–2 2–0 1–0 4–3 3–1 4–0 6–1 1–0 1–0 3–1
Hayes 1–1 0–0 3–1 1–0 1–2 4–0 2–0 0–1 1–1 3–1 0–3 1–1 1–2 0–1 2–0 1–2 1–3 2–1 3–1 3–0 6–4
Hednesford Town 0–1 1–0 1–0 3–0 0–0 2–1 1–1 1–1 3–0 1–0 0–1 2–0 0–1 2–1 2–1 1–0 2–1 1–0 3–2 1–1 1–0
Hereford United 3–2 0–1 2–1 1–0 0–0 3–0 2–1 3–2 1–0 1–0 1–0 2–2 1–1 1–1 1–1 3–0 0–2 1–1 1–2 2–1 1–1
Kettering Town 0–1 2–1 2–1 3–0 1–1 1–1 2–1 1–2 2–2 1–0 1–1 1–3 0–4 3–3 2–1 3–1 2–0 1–3 0–1 0–1 1–1
Kidderminster Harriers 1–2 3–3 2–0 1–1 0–2 1–0 1–1 1–4 4–1 1–1 1–4 1–1 1–2 0–1 1–1 5–0 1–3 1–1 2–1 1–1 3–1
Leek Town 0–0 5–1 3–1 2–2 2–0 1–2 3–3 2–2 0–4 0–0 1–1 1–1 2–0 0–2 0–1 2–2 2–1 3–1 1–2 2–0 2–0
Morecambe 1–0 3–3 1–1 2–0 1–1 0–2 1–3 1–5 1–3 3–1 1–1 3–1 3–1 2–1 2–0 3–1 0–2 1–0 4–2 1–2 1–0
Northwich Victoria 2–1 2–1 3–3 1–1 2–0 1–1 1–1 0–2 0–0 1–1 3–1 5–0 2–4 0–1 0–0 1–0 1–0 2–2 5–1 0–2 2–1
Rushden & Diamonds 4–1 4–1 5–5 3–2 4–0 1–3 1–1 1–0 1–0 4–1 0–1 3–3 0–1 0–1 1–0 3–0 2–0 3–2 0–1 2–1 2–2
Slough Town 1–2 2–4 1–0 1–0 1–1 0–0 2–0 3–0 1–1 2–0 1–1 3–3 3–0 1–2 1–0 4–0 3–1 1–0 1–2 1–3 1–1
Southport 1–2 0–1 3–1 3–1 0–0 0–2 4–1 0–0 2–1 1–2 2–2 1–1 0–2 3–2 1–2 4–2 1–0 1–2 3–1 0–0 2–1
Stalybridge Celtic 1–4 1–0 1–1 2–2 0–1 1–1 1–1 2–3 3–4 2–1 6–1 3–1 0–1 2–4 0–1 1–3 1–1 1–2 2–1 0–3 3–2
Stevenage Borough 1–2 2–2 5–0 6–1 1–2 1–5 1–1 2–0 0–0 3–1 1–1 0–3 1–3 2–1 4–2 1–0 1–1 1–1 0–0 0–0 2–1
Telford United 0–0 0–1 0–1 4–4 0–3 1–0 1–1 0–0 1–1 1–1 3–0 1–3 2–1 4–2 0–1 2–2 1–0 3–0 0–3 0–3 1–4
Welling United 2–1 2–2 1–0 2–0 6–2 2–0 3–2 3–0 2–2 0–3 2–0 2–2 0–1 0–1 1–1 3–5 1–0 1–0 4–1 1–1 1–3
Woking 2–0 4–0 3–0 3–1 2–2 3–0 4–2 3–1 0–1 0–1 5–2 0–2 1–0 0–2 2–1 1–1 3–1 5–3 1–1 3–1 2–0
Yeovil Town 3–1 4–1 0–1 6–3 0–1 4–3 1–0 2–0 2–0 1–0 3–1 2–3 2–2 1–2 2–1 0–0 2–0 2–1 5–3 1–1 2–0

Source: Glenda Rollin (ed.), Jack Rollin (exec. ed.), Rothmans Football Yearbook 1998–99. Headline, 1998.
1The home team is listed in the left-hand column.
Colours: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Topscorers in Order of League Goals[1]

Rank Player Club League FA Cup FA Trophy League Cup Total
1 Geoff Horsfield Halifax Town 30 4 0 0 34
2 Darren Collins Rushden & Diamonds 29 0 3 0 32
3 Darran Hay Woking 20 0 0 1 21
4 Mark Cooper Welling United 18 1 0 0 19
= John Norman Morecambe 18 0 0 3 21
6 Neil Grayson Cheltenham Town 17 4 0 1 22
7 Owen Pickard Yeovil Town 17 6 0 1 24
= Dale Watkins Cheltenham Town 17 4 7 1 29
= Mike Bignall Kidderminster Harriers 16 1 0 0 17
= Brendan Burke Stalybridge Celtic 16 2 1 1 20
= Jason Eaton Cheltenham Town 16 2 4 0 22
= David Mehew Rushden & Diamonds 16 1 0 0 17
= Warren Patmore Yeovil Town 16 0 0 1 17
14 Ritchie Hanlon Welling United 15 0 0 0 15
= Martin Randall Hayes 15 0 2 2 19
16 Jamie Paterson Halifax Town 14 3 1 0 18
= Grant Payne Woking 14 0 0 1 15
= Chris Pearson Kettering Town 14 0 0 0 14
19 Andy Milner Morecambe 13 0 0 2 15
20 Steve Bowey Gateshead 12 1 1 0 14
= Jimmy Strouts Dover Athletic 12 0 0 1 13

References

  1. ^ a b c Glenda Rollin (ed.), Jack Rollin (exec. ed.), Rothmans Football Yearbook 1998–99. Headline, 1998.

External links

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