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.

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.

New teams in the league this season

• Lincoln City (relegated from the Football League 1986–87)
• Fisher Athletic (promoted 1986–87)
• Macclesfield Town (promoted 1986–87)
• Wycombe Wanderers (promoted 1986–87)

Final League Table^[1]

Football Conference

Season	1987–88[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	1386 (3 per match)
Top goalscorer	Steve Norris (Telford United), 24; Phil Derbyshire, (Stafford Rangers), 24; Paul Davies, (Kidderminster Harriers), 24
Biggest home win	Altrincham – Dagenham 6–0 (2 May 1988); Northwich Victoria – Boston United 6–0 (5 May 1988)
Biggest away win	Wycombe Wanderers – Barnet 0–7 (15 Sep 1987)
Highest scoring	Barnet – Sutton United 6–2 (28 Dec 1987); Lincoln City – Kidderminster Harriers 5–3 (28 Dec 1987); Wycombe Wanderers – Cheltenham Town 5–3 (16 Jan 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)
← 1986–87 1988–89 →

Altrincham

Barnet

Bath City

Boston United

Cheltenham

Dagenham

Enfield

Fisher Athletic

Kettering Town

Kidderminster Harriers

Lincoln City

Macclesfield

Maidstone

Northwich Victoria

Runcorn

Stafford

Sutton

Telford United

Wealdstone

Welling

Weymouth

Wycombe

Locations of the Football Conference teams 1987–1988

Barnet

Dagenham

Enfield

Fisher Athletic

Sutton

Wealdstone

Welling

Locations of the Football Conference teams 1987–1988

Pos	Team	Pld		W	D	L	F	A		W	D	L	F	A		F	A	GD		Pts	Notes
1	Lincoln City	42		16	4	1	53	13		8	6	7	33	35		86	48	+ 38		82
2	Barnet	42		15	4	2	57	23		8	7	6	36	22		93	45	+ 48		80
3	Kettering Town	42		13	5	3	37	20		9	4	8	31	28		68	48	+ 20		75
4	Runcorn	42		14	4	3	42	20		7	7	7	26	27		68	47	+ 21		74
5	Telford United	42		11	5	5	33	23		9	5	7	32	27		65	50	+ 15		70
6	Stafford Rangers	42		12	4	5	43	25		8	5	8	36	33		79	58	+ 21		69
7	Kidderminster Harriers	42		11	8	2	42	28		7	7	7	33	38		75	66	+ 9		69
8	Sutton United	42		9	8	4	41	25		7	10	4	36	29		77	54	+ 23		66
9	Maidstone United	42		8	5	8	38	33		10	4	7	41	31		79	64	+ 15		63
10	Weymouth	42		13	7	1	33	13		5	2	14	20	30		53	43	+ 10		63
11	Macclesfield Town	42		10	5	6	36	27		8	4	9	28	35		64	62	+ 2		63
12	Enfield	42		8	5	8	35	34		7	5	9	33	44		68	78	– 10		55
13	Cheltenham Town	42		6	11	4	36	32		5	9	7	28	35		64	67	– 3		53
14	Altrincham	42		11	5	5	41	21		3	5	13	18	38		59	59	± 0		52
15	Fisher Athletic	42		8	7	6	28	23		5	6	10	30	38		58	61	– 3		52
16	Boston United	42		9	5	7	33	25		5	2	14	27	50		60	75	– 15		49
17	Northwich Victoria	42		8	6	7	30	25		2	11	8	16	32		46	57	– 11		47
18	Wycombe Wanderers	42		8	5	8	32	43		3	8	10	18	33		50	76	– 26		46
19	Welling United	42		8	4	9	33	32		3	5	13	17	40		50	72	– 22		42
20	Bath City	42		7	5	9	27	32		2	5	14	21	44		48	76	– 28		37	Relegated to the Southern Premier League
21	Wealdstone	42		3	11	7	20	33		2	6	13	19	43		39	76	– 37		32	Relegated to the Southern Premier League
22	Dagenham	42		4	3	14	20	46		1	3	17	17	58		37	104	– 67		21	Relegated to the Isthmian 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 scored: 3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw.

Key
	Football Conference Champions, promoted to Football League Fourth Division
	FA Trophy winners
	Conference League Cup winners, Horwich RMI F.C. (Northern Premier League)
	Relegated from the The Football League, see Lincoln City
	New club in the Conference
	Relegated to Level 6

Results^[1]

Home \ Away1

ALT

BRN

BAT

BOS

CHL

DAG

ENF

FIS

KET

KID

LIN

MAC

MAI

NOR

RUN

STF

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

Source: Rothmans Football Yearbook 1988–89. Queen Anne Press, Macdonald Futura Publishers, London & Sydney, 1988.
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	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

Promotion and relegation

Promoted

• Lincoln City (to the Football League Fourth Division)
• Aylesbury United (from the Southern Premier League)
• Chorley (from the Northern Premier League)
• Yeovil Town (from the Isthmian League)

Relegated

• Newport County (from the Football League Fourth Division)
• Bath City (to the Southern Premier League)
• Dagenham (to the Isthmian League)
• Wealdstone (to the Southern Premier League)

References

1. ^ ^{a b c d} Jack Rollin (ed.), Rothmans Football Yearbook 1988–89. Queen Anne Press, MacDonald & Co., London and Sydney, 1988.

External links

• 1987–88 Conference National Results