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.

Changes since the previous season

• Hereford United (relegated from the Football League 1996–97)
• Cheltenham Town (promoted 1996–97)
• Leek Town (promoted 1996–97)
• Yeovil Town (promoted 1996–97)

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	?
← 1996–97 1998–99 →

Cheltenham

Dover

Farnborough

Gateshead

Halifax Town

Hednesford

Hayes

Hereford United

Kettering Town

Kidderminster Harriers

Leek Town

Morecambe

Northwich Victoria

Rushden & Diamonds

Slough Town

Southport

Stalybridge

Stevenage

Telford

Welling

Woking

Yeovil Town

Locations of the Football Conference 1997–1998 teams

Hayes

Welling

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

• 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.

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

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

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

• Footballtransfers.co.uk contains information on many players on whom there is not yet an article in Wikipedia.

References

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

External links

• Official Football Conference Website
• 1997-98 Conference National Results