Season | 1987β88 [1] |
---|---|
Champions | Lincoln City (1st Football Conference title) |
Promoted to the Football League | Lincoln City |
Conference League Cup winners | Horwich RMI ( Northern Premier League) |
FA Trophy winners | Enfield |
Relegated to Level 6 |
Bath City, Dagenham, Wealdstone |
Matches played | 462 |
Goals scored | 1,386 (3 per match) |
Top goalscorer |
Steve Norris (
Telford United), 24; Phil Derbyshire, ( Stafford Rangers), 24; Paul Davies, ( Kidderminster Harriers), 24 |
Biggest home win |
Altrincham β
Dagenham 6β0 (2 May 1988); Northwich Victoria β Boston United 6β0 (5 May 1988) |
Biggest away win | Wycombe Wanderers β Barnet 0β7 (15 September 1987) |
Highest scoring |
Barnet β
Sutton United 6β2 (28 December 1987); Lincoln City β Kidderminster Harriers 5β3 (28 December 1987); Wycombe Wanderers β Cheltenham Town 5β3 (16 January 1988) |
Longest winning run | Kettering Town, Lincoln City, 6 matches |
Longest unbeaten run | Kidderminster Harriers, Lincoln City, 16 matches |
Longest losing run | Dagenham, 12 matches |
Highest attendance | Lincoln City v Wycombe Wanderers, 9,432 (2 May 1988) |
Lowest attendance | ? |
Average attendance | 1,249 (+ 36% from the previous season) |
β
1986β87
1988β89 β |
The Football Conference season of 1987β88 (known as the GM Vauxhall Conference for sponsorship reasons) was the ninth season of the Football Conference.
Lincoln City, who had been relegated to the Conference a year earlier in the first season of automatic promotion and relegation between the Conference and the Fourth Division of the Football League, won the Conference title to reclaim their place in the Football League, where they replaced the bottom placed Fourth Division club Newport County.
The season featured an experimental rule change, whereby no attacker could be offside directly from a free-kick. The change was not deemed a success, as the attacking team invariably packed the six yard box for any free-kick (and had several players stand in front of the opposition goalkeeper). The experiment was swiftly dropped. [2]
Pos | Team | Pld | HW | HD | HL | HGF | HGA | AW | AD | AL | AGF | AGA | GD | Pts | Promotion or relegation |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Lincoln City | 42 | 16 | 4 | 1 | 53 | 13 | 8 | 6 | 7 | 33 | 35 | +38 | 82 |
Football Conference Champions, promoted to
Football League Fourth Division |
2 | Barnet | 42 | 15 | 4 | 2 | 57 | 23 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 36 | 22 | +48 | 80 | |
3 | Kettering Town | 42 | 13 | 5 | 3 | 37 | 20 | 9 | 4 | 8 | 31 | 28 | +20 | 75 | |
4 | Runcorn | 42 | 14 | 4 | 3 | 42 | 20 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 26 | 27 | +21 | 74 | |
5 | Telford United | 42 | 11 | 5 | 5 | 33 | 23 | 9 | 5 | 7 | 32 | 27 | +15 | 70 | |
6 | Stafford Rangers | 42 | 12 | 4 | 5 | 43 | 25 | 8 | 5 | 8 | 36 | 33 | +21 | 69 | |
7 | Kidderminster Harriers | 42 | 11 | 8 | 2 | 42 | 28 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 33 | 38 | +9 | 69 | |
8 | Sutton United | 42 | 9 | 8 | 4 | 41 | 25 | 7 | 10 | 4 | 36 | 29 | +23 | 66 | |
9 | Maidstone United | 42 | 8 | 5 | 8 | 38 | 33 | 10 | 4 | 7 | 41 | 31 | +15 | 63 | |
10 | Weymouth | 42 | 13 | 7 | 1 | 33 | 13 | 5 | 2 | 14 | 20 | 30 | +10 | 63 | |
11 | Macclesfield Town [a] | 42 | 10 | 5 | 6 | 36 | 27 | 8 | 4 | 9 | 28 | 35 | +2 | 63 | |
12 | Enfield | 42 | 8 | 5 | 8 | 35 | 34 | 7 | 5 | 9 | 33 | 44 | −10 | 55 | FA Trophy winners |
13 | Cheltenham Town | 42 | 6 | 11 | 4 | 36 | 32 | 5 | 9 | 7 | 28 | 35 | −3 | 53 | |
14 | Altrincham | 42 | 11 | 5 | 5 | 41 | 21 | 3 | 5 | 13 | 18 | 38 | 0 | 52 | |
15 | Fisher Athletic [a] | 42 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 28 | 23 | 5 | 6 | 10 | 30 | 38 | −3 | 52 | |
16 | Boston United | 42 | 9 | 5 | 7 | 33 | 25 | 5 | 2 | 14 | 27 | 50 | −15 | 49 | |
17 | Northwich Victoria | 42 | 8 | 6 | 7 | 30 | 25 | 2 | 11 | 8 | 16 | 32 | −11 | 47 | |
18 | Wycombe Wanderers [a] | 42 | 8 | 5 | 8 | 32 | 43 | 3 | 8 | 10 | 18 | 33 | −26 | 46 | |
19 | Welling United | 42 | 8 | 4 | 9 | 33 | 32 | 3 | 5 | 13 | 17 | 40 | −22 | 42 | |
20 | Bath City | 42 | 7 | 5 | 9 | 27 | 32 | 2 | 5 | 14 | 21 | 44 | −28 | 37 | Relegated to the Southern League |
21 | Wealdstone | 42 | 3 | 11 | 7 | 20 | 33 | 2 | 6 | 13 | 19 | 43 | −37 | 32 | |
22 | Dagenham | 42 | 4 | 3 | 14 | 20 | 46 | 1 | 3 | 17 | 17 | 58 | −67 | 21 | Relegated to the Isthmian League |
Note: Conference League Cup winners, Horwich RMI F.C. ( Northern Premier League)
Rank | Player | Club | League | FA Cup | FA Trophy | League Cup | Total [1] |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Steve Norris | Telford United | 24 | 0 | 6 | 5 | 35 |
= | Phil Derbyshire | Stafford Rangers | 24 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 32 |
= | Paul Davies | Kidderminster Harriers | 24 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 27 |
4 | Steve Butler | Maidstone United | 22 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 29 |
= | Mark Carter | Runcorn | 22 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 25 |
= | Nicky Evans | Barnet | 22 | 7 | 0 | 1 | 30 |
7 | Nicky Francis | Enfield | 21 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 29 |
8 | Steve Burr | Macclesfield Town | 19 | 9 | 4 | 0 | 32 |
= | Lenny Dennis | Sutton United | 19 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 25 |
= | Dave Sansom | Barnet | 19 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 27 |
11 | Kim Casey | Kidderminster Harriers | 17 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 21 |
12 | Phil Brown | Lincoln City | 16 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 20 |
= | Mark Smith | Kettering Town | 16 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 19 |
= | Paul Wilson | Boston United | 16 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 21 |
= | Brett Angell | Cheltenham Town | 16 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 22 |
16 | Steve Biggins | Telford United | 15 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 20 |
= | John McGinley | Lincoln City | 15 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 20 |
= | Paul McKinnon | Sutton United | 15 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 19 |