1987–88 Football Conference

The Football Conference season of 1987–88 (known as the GM Vauxhall Conference for sponsorship reasons) was the ninth season of the Football Conference.

Football Conference
Season1987–88[1]
ChampionsLincoln City (1st Football Conference title)
Promoted to the Football LeagueLincoln City
Conference League Cup winnersHorwich RMI (Northern Premier League)
FA Trophy winnersEnfield
Relegated to
Level 6		Bath City,
Dagenham,
Wealdstone
Matches played462
Goals scored1,386 (3 per match)
Top goalscorerSteve Norris (Telford United), 24;
Phil Derbyshire, (Stafford Rangers), 24;
Paul Davies, (Kidderminster Harriers), 24
Biggest home winAltrincham – Dagenham 6–0 (2 May 1988);
Northwich Victoria – Boston United 6–0 (5 May 1988)
Biggest away winWycombe Wanderers – Barnet 0–7 (15 September 1987)
Highest scoringBarnet – Sutton United 6–2 (28 December 1987);
Lincoln City – Kidderminster Harriers 5–3 (28 December 1987);
Wycombe Wanderers – Cheltenham Town 5–3 (16 January 1988)
Longest winning runKettering Town, Lincoln City, 6 matches
Longest unbeaten runKidderminster Harriers, Lincoln City, 16 matches
Longest losing runDagenham, 12 matches
Highest attendanceLincoln City v Wycombe Wanderers, 9,432 (2 May 1988)
Lowest attendance?
Average attendance1,249 (+ 36% from the previous season)

Overview

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]

New teams in the league this season

Final league table
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
Relegated from The Football League
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[lower-alpha 1] 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[lower-alpha 1] 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[lower-alpha 1] 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
Source: [1]
Notes:
  1. New club in the Conference

Note: Conference League Cup winners, Horwich RMI F.C. (Northern Premier League)

Results
Home \ Away ALT BAR BAT BOS CHL DAG ENF FIS KET KID LIN MAC MDS NOR RUN STA SUT TEL WEA WEL WEY WYC
Altrincham 1–1 2–0 4–1 1–1 6–0 5–1 2–3 2–2 2–3 0–0 1–3 0–0 2–0 2–0 2–0 0–1 0–3 1–0 1–0 3–0 4–2
Barnet 3–1 4–0 1–0 1–1 3–2 3–0 2–0 4–0 1–1 4–2 2–1 2–0 4–1 1–2 2–2 6–2 0–2 5–1 5–2 3–2 1–1
Bath City 2–0 0–1 2–1 1–1 4–2 0–1 1–3 2–0 3–3 2–1 3–4 1–3 0–0 0–1 0–3 0–4 1–2 0–0 0–0 3–1 2–1
Boston United 2–2 2–1 2–0 4–1 1–0 2–3 2–1 0–2 1–0 1–2 0–2 3–3 0–1 2–2 4–1 0–0 1–1 0–1 1–2 1–0 4–0
Cheltenham Town 1–0 0–2 3–3 1–5 5–1 1–1 2–0 1–2 2–2 3–3 1–0 2–2 1–1 0–0 2–3 1–1 3–0 1–1 2–2 2–1 2–2
Dagenham 3–2 0–0 1–1 4–2 1–3 1–2 1–5 0–5 1–2 0–3 0–0 0–3 1–0 1–4 2–4 0–1 0–1 1–2 1–2 0–3 2–1
Enfield 1–1 2–0 1–3 3–2 0–1 2–2 0–0 2–0 5–2 0–0 1–2 2–4 0–1 1–3 0–0 2–3 1–4 5–2 1–0 3–2 3–2
Fisher Athletic 3–2 2–2 2–0 0–0 1–0 5–1 2–3 1–1 3–1 1–1 1–2 0–3 0–0 0–2 1–2 1–1 0–1 3–1 1–0 1–0 0–0
Kettering Town 1–2 1–1 1–1 3–0 1–1 3–0 2–1 2–1 1–1 2–0 3–2 0–2 3–1 0–3 1–0 2–2 1–0 3–2 1–0 3–0 3–0
Kidderminster Harriers 4–1 1–1 3–2 1–0 3–2 1–1 4–0 1–1 2–1 3–3 3–2 2–1 1–1 1–1 0–0 2–2 2–4 2–1 5–2 1–0 0–2
Lincoln City 5–0 2–1 3–0 5–1 5–1 3–0 4–0 3–0 0–1 5–3 3–0 1–1 3–2 1–0 2–1 1–1 0–0 3–0 2–1 0–0 2–0
Macclesfield Town 1–0 2–2 0–2 2–1 1–0 3–1 0–3 2–4 0–0 1–2 2–0 1–0 5–0 4–0 2–3 1–1 1–1 3–2 3–2 1–2 1–1
Maidstone United 2–2 2–1 3–0 1–2 2–2 2–0 3–2 2–2 2–3 1–2 1–2 2–0 1–1 3–0 4–2 2–4 2–4 1–1 0–1 2–1 0–1
Northwich Victoria 1–2 2–1 2–1 6–0 0–0 1–0 1–1 1–2 0–1 1–1 2–3 2–1 2–3 2–0 1–1 1–4 1–2 0–0 0–0 2–1 2–1
Runcorn 1–1 0–1 2–1 3–0 2–2 2–1 2–2 5–1 1–0 2–0 4–1 1–2 3–2 2–1 1–1 1–0 2–1 1–0 4–0 2–1 1–2
Stafford Rangers 3–0 1–1 1–0 3–4 2–2 4–0 3–1 3–2 2–1 0–2 1–4 0–1 2–3 3–0 2–1 2–0 1–1 5–2 2–0 0–0 3–0
Sutton United 2–1 0–1 3–1 1–2 3–0 1–1 3–3 2–0 2–2 2–0 4–1 2–3 5–1 1–1 2–2 2–0 2–1 1–1 1–1 0–1 2–2
Telford United 1–0 2–4 3–1 2–1 0–1 1–0 4–0 2–1 2–3 4–3 0–1 0–0 1–0 1–1 2–1 1–2 3–3 1–1 2–0 1–0 0–0
Wealdstone 0–0 0–6 1–1 1–1 1–4 2–3 1–0 2–1 0–2 1–1 0–0 1–1 1–3 2–2 0–1 4–2 0–0 2–2 1–1 0–2 0–0
Welling United 0–1 0–2 2–1 3–1 0–1 6–1 1–1 1–1 3–1 1–2 1–4 3–1 0–1 1–1 1–1 0–5 1–4 4–1 4–0 0–2 1–0
Weymouth 1–0 2–0 3–1 3–1 1–1 1–0 1–3 1–1 2–1 1–1 3–0 1–1 2–1 0–0 0–0 2–0 2–1 1–0 2–1 4–0 0–0
Wycombe Wanderers 1–0 0–7 2–2 1–2 5–3 2–1 1–5 1–1 0–3 0–1 1–2 5–0 1–5 1–1 2–2 0–4 1–1 2–1 1–0 3–1 2–1
Updated to match(es) played on unknown. Source: Rothmans Football Yearbook 1988–89. Queen Anne Press, Macdonald Futura Publishers, London & Sydney, 1988.[1]
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.
Locations of the Football Conference teams 1987–1988
Locations of the Football Conference teams 1987–1988

Top scorers in order of league goals
Rank Player Club League FA Cup FA Trophy League Cup Total[1]
1 Steve Norris Telford United 2406535
= Phil Derbyshire Stafford Rangers 2433232
= Paul Davies Kidderminster Harriers 2421027
4Steve ButlerMaidstone United2234029
=Mark CarterRuncorn2212025
=Nicky EvansBarnet2270130
7Nicky FrancisEnfield2114329
8Steve BurrMacclesfield Town1994032
=Lenny DennisSutton United1940225
=Dave SansomBarnet1932327
11Kim CaseyKidderminster Harriers1722021
12Phil BrownLincoln City1612120
=Mark SmithKettering Town1602119
=Paul WilsonBoston United1623021
=Brett AngellCheltenham Town1651022
16Steve BigginsTelford United1513120
=John McGinleyLincoln City1530220
=Paul McKinnonSutton United1520219

Promotion and relegation

Relegated

References
  1. Jack Rollin (ed.), Rothmans Football Yearbook 1988–89. Queen Anne Press, MacDonald & Co., London and Sydney, 1988.
  2. King, Ian (8 February 2014). "Six Of The Worst: Football's Failed Rule Change Experiments". twohundredpercent. Retrieved 21 September 2019.
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