1986–87 Football Conference

The Football Conference season of 1986–87 (known as the GM Vauxhall Conference for sponsorship reasons) was the eighth season of the Football Conference, the first season under this name, this league having earlier been known as the Alliance Premier League.

Overview

This was the first season of automatic promotion for champions of the Conference, following the abolition of the re-election system, and automatic relegation to the Conference for the bottom placed team in the Football League Fourth Division. Scarborough finished the season as Conference champions, and so won automatic promotion to the Football League at the expense of Lincoln City.

New teams in the league this season

• Gateshead (promoted 1985–86)
• Sutton United (promoted 1985–86)
• Welling United (promoted 1985–86)

Final League Table^[1]

Football Conference

Season	1986–87 [1]
Champions	Scarborough (1st Football Conference title)
Promoted to the Football League	Scarborough
Conference League Cup winners	Kettering Town
FA Trophy winners	Kidderminster Harriers
Relegated to Level 6	Frickley Athletic, Gateshead, Nuneaton Borough
Matches played	462
Goals scored	1403 (3.04 per match)
Top goalscorer	Kim Casey (Kidderminster Harriers), 38
Biggest home win	Sutton United – Kettering Town 8–0
Biggest away win	Gateshead – Barnet 1–5; Nuneaton Borough – Boston United 1–5; Kidderminster Harriers – Telford United 0–4; Nuneaton Borough – Weymouth 0–4; Wealdstone – Boston United 0–4
Highest scoring	Runcorn – Northwich Victoria 7–3
Longest winning run	?
Longest unbeaten run	?
Longest losing run	?
Highest attendance	?
Lowest attendance	?
Average attendance	917
← 1985–86 1987–88 →

Altrincham

Barnet

Bath City

Boston United

Cheltenham

Dagenham

Enfield

Frickley

Gateshead

Kettering Town

Kidderminster Harriers

Maidstone

Northwich Victoria

Nuneaton

Runcorn

Scarborough

Stafford

Sutton

Telford United

Wealdstone

Welling

Weymouth

Locations of the Football Conference teams 1986–1987

Barnet

Dagenham

Enfield

Sutton

Wealdstone

Welling

Locations of the Football Conference teams 1986–1987

Pos	Team	Pld		W	D	L	F	A		W	D	L	F	A		F	A	GD		Pts	Notes
1	Scarborough	42		12	7	2	31	19		15	3	3	33	14		64	33	+ 31		91
2	Barnet	42		13	4	4	47	22		12	6	3	39	17		86	39	+ 47		85
3	Maidstone United	42		14	4	3	43	16		7	6	8	28	32		71	48	+ 23		73
4	Enfield	42		9	5	7	32	21		12	2	7	34	26		66	47	+ 19		70
5	Altrincham	42		11	7	3	35	18		7	8	6	31	35		66	53	+ 13		69
6	Boston United	42		11	4	6	40	28		10	2	9	42	46		82	64	+ 18		69
7	Sutton United	42		12	4	5	52	24		7	7	7	29	27		81	51	+ 30		68
8	Runcorn	42		12	7	2	45	23		6	6	9	26	35		71	58	+ 13		67
9	Telford United	42		12	5	4	41	23		6	5	10	28	36		69	59	+ 10		64
10	Bath City	42		9	5	7	35	31		8	7	6	28	31		63	62	+ 1		63
11	Cheltenham Town	42		11	4	6	43	25		5	9	7	21	25		64	50	+ 14		61
12	Kidderminster Harriers	42		10	4	7	46	34		7	0	14	31	47		77	81	– 4		55
13	Stafford Rangers	42		9	5	7	32	25		5	6	10	26	35		58	60	– 2		53
14	Weymouth	42		10	5	6	43	33		3	7	11	25	44		68	77	– 9		51
15	Dagenham	42		10	4	7	32	29		4	3	14	24	43		56	72	– 16		49
16	Kettering Town	42		8	5	8	35	28		4	6	11	19	38		54	66	– 12		47
17	Northwich Victoria	42		6	7	8	25	23		4	7	10	28	46		53	69	– 16		44
18	Nuneaton Borough	42		6	8	7	23	28		4	6	11	25	45		48	73	– 25		44	Relegated to Southern Premier League [notes 1]
19	Wealdstone	42		7	5	9	26	34		4	5	12	24	36		50	70	– 20		43
20	Welling United	42		8	4	9	39	38		2	6	13	22	46		61	94	– 33		40
21	Frickley Athletic	42		5	7	9	28	37		2	4	15	19	45		47	82	– 35		32	Relegated to Northern Premier League
22	Gateshead	42		3	7	11	26	45		3	6	12	22	50		48	95	– 47		31	Relegated to Northern Premier League

• Pld = Matches played; W = Matches won; D = Matches drawn; L = Matches lost; F = Goals for; A = Goals against; GD = Goal difference; Pts = Points

• Points scoring: 2 points for a home win, 3 points for an away win, 1 point for a draw.

1. ^ Nuneaton Borough were relegated due to financial irregularities.

Key
	Football Conference Champions, promoted to the Football League Fourth Division 1987–88
	FA Trophy winners
	Conference League Cup winners
	New club in the Conference, see also Gateshead
	Relegated to Level 6

Results^[1]

Home \ Away1

ALT

BRN

BAT

BOS

CHL

DAG

ENF

FRK

GAT

KET

KID

MAI

NOR

NUN

RUN

SCA

STF

SUT

TEL

WEA

WEL

WEY

Altrincham

2–0

1–1

3–1

2–0

0–2

0–1

1–1

1–1

4–1

3–1

4–0

1–1

2–2

0–0

1–0

2–0

2–1

2–1

1–2

1–1

2–1

Barnet

1–0

2–1

5–1

0–1

1–0

1–0

3–0

3–1

1–2

5–2

3–1

4–0

4–1

3–0

2–2

1–2

1–2

2–2

2–1

1–1

2–2

Bath City

1–1

0–1

4–2

0–0

2–0

1–3

4–2

1–1

1–2

3–2

1–0

1–1

2–3

1–2

0–3

4–2

1–3

3–1

2–0

1–1

2–1

Boston United

4–2

0–3

1–2

1–1

1–0

5–1

2–2

6–0

2–1

2–1

0–3

0–1

2–1

2–0

1–3

2–0

0–0

2–3

2–0

4–3

1–1

Cheltenham Town

1–1

1–2

1–1

1–3

6–1

2–0

2–0

4–2

3–1

1–2

2–0

5–2

1–1

1–1

2–3

2–1

1–2

3–1

0–1

2–0

2–0

Dagenham

3–1

1–3

1–2

3–2

1–1

0–3

0–1

0–0

1–2

3–1

0–2

3–3

3–1

3–2

0–2

1–0

2–1

3–1

1–0

1–1

2–0

Enfield

0–2

0–3

1–0

2–3

2–2

1–0

0–0

1–1

0–0

3–0

0–1

1–2

3–1

5–0

0–1

2–0

0–0

3–1

4–2

0–2

4–0

Frickley Athletic

2–2

0–3

2–2

0–1

0–2

1–3

1–4

3–1

0–1

2–2

0–2

1–1

1–1

0–2

0–2

2–1

1–1

4–2

3–1

3–1

2–2

Gateshead

1–3

1–5

1–2

1–3

1–1

3–2

1–2

2–0

1–1

2–4

1–4

1–1

3–2

1–3

0–1

2–2

1–1

0–2

1–1

1–1

1–4

Kettering Town

0–2

1–1

2–0

1–2

0–0

3–1

2–0

1–2

5–1

0–2

1–2

1–0

2–2

1–1

1–2

2–2

1–4

3–1

0–2

5–1

3–0

Kidderminster Harriers

3–0

0–3

2–4

1–2

5–1

4–2

3–4

4–1

3–1

2–1

2–2

1–2

3–0

3–2

0–1

1–1

0–0

0–4

5–2

2–0

1–1

Maidstone United

3–0

1–0

0–0

2–2

1–1

2–1

0–2

1–0

3–0

3–0

5–0

5–2

2–0

3–2

2–1

2–3

0–1

0–0

1–0

4–0

3–1

Northwich Victoria

1–1

1–2

1–1

4–0

1–0

2–3

2–0

1–1

1–2

0–0

1–2

1–1

1–2

1–2

0–1

1–1

0–1

1–0

2–1

2–1

1–1

Nuneaton Borough

2–2

1–3

1–0

1–5

0–0

3–3

2–0

2–1

1–1

0–0

1–2

2–0

0–1

1–0

3–0

0–0

1–1

0–2

1–1

1–2

0–4

Runcorn

1–1

1–1

0–1

3–1

1–0

4–0

1–1

1–0

4–0

1–0

4–3

3–2

7–3

1–1

0–2

3–1

3–2

3–0

1–1

2–2

1–1

Scarborough

2–2

0–0

1–1

0–0

1–3

2–1

1–1

4–2

3–2

1–0

2–1

0–0

2–1

1–0

1–2

2–0

2–1

0–0

2–1

2–0

2–1

Stafford Rangers

2–3

0–3

0–1

0–1

0–1

1–1

0–3

2–0

1–0

2–2

4–1

2–3

4–1

3–1

2–0

0–0

4–2

1–1

1–0

3–1

0–0

Sutton United

2–3

3–1

7–2

3–1

0–0

1–0

0–1

3–0

3–0

8–0

3–1

3–1

2–1

2–3

1–1

0–2

3–0

2–2

2–2

2–0

2–3

Telford United

4–0

0–1

4–2

5–2

3–1

0–2

2–1

4–1

2–1

2–0

2–1

1–1

1–0

1–1

2–2

0–0

0–0

0–2

1–3

2–1

5–1

Wealdstone

0–2

0–0

1–2

0–4

1–0

2–2

0–3

2–1

2–2

2–1

0–3

0–0

1–1

6–0

0–3

1–3

0–3

2–1

0–1

3–1

3–1

Welling United

0–1

1–1

1–1

4–2

1–3

1–0

2–3

3–2

3–4

0–3

1–0

2–2

3–2

1–2

3–0

1–3

2–4

3–1

1–3

1–1

5–0

Weymouth

2–2

3–3

1–2

3–4

4–3

3–0

0–1

3–2

0–1

2–0

2–1

4–1

2–2

1–0

1–1

0–1

1–3

2–2

3–0

3–2

3–2

Source: Peter Dunk (ed.), Rothmans Football Yearbook 1987–88. Queen Anne Press, Macdonald Futura Publishers, London & Sydney, 1987.
¹The home team is listed in the left-hand column.
Colours: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Topscorers^[1]

Rank	Player	Club	League	FA Cup	FA Trophy	League Cup	Total
1	Kim Casey	Kidderminster Harriers	38	4	2	0	44
2	Mick Carter	Runcorn	30	2	6	3	41
3	Steve Butler	Maidstone United	24	5	3	2	34
4	Gary Abbott	Welling United	23	2	3	0	28
=	Chris Cook	Boston United	23	0	2	2	27
=	Ken McKenna	Telford United	23	1	0	0	24
7	Nicky Evans	Barnet	22	0	4	0	26
=	Chris Townsend	Cheltenham Town	22	1	0	0	23
9	Mick Doherty	Weymouth	16	0	1	1	18
=	Paul Bodin	Bath City	16	2	2	1	21
=	Stewart Mell	Scarborough	16	0	2	0	18
=	John Timmons	Altrincham	16	0	0	1	17

Promotion and relegation

Promoted

• Scarborough (to the Football League Fourth Division)
• Fisher Athletic (from the Isthmian League)
• Macclesfield Town (from the Northern Premier League)
• Wycombe Wanderers (from the Southern Premier League)

Relegated

• Lincoln City (from the Football League Fourth Division)
• Frickley Athletic (to the Northern Premier League)
• Gateshead (to the Northern Premier League)
• Nuneaton Borough (to the Southern Premier League)

References

1. ^ ^{a b c d} Peter Dunk (ed.), Rothmans Football Yearbook 1987–88. Queen Anne Press, Macdonald & Co., London & Sydney, 1987.

External links

• 1986–87 Conference National Results