1997–98 Football Conference

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	1,344 (2.91 per match)
Top goalscorer	Geoff Horsfield (Halifax Town), 30
Biggest home win	Farnborough Town – Stalybridge Celtic 6–0 (20 December 1997)
Biggest away win	Morecambe – Hereford 1–5 (1 November 1997);; Stevenage – Hayes 1–5 (1 September 1997) ;; Dover – Kidderminster 0–4 (20 September 1997);; Kettering – Rushden & Diamonds 0–4 (21 February 1998);; Leek – Kettering 0–4 (31 March 1998)
Highest scoring	Hayes – Yeovil Town 6–4 (14 February 1998);; Rushden & Diamonds – Farnborough Town 5–5 (13 September 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 April 1998)
Lowest attendance	?
Average attendance	?
	← 1996–97 1998–99 →

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

Pos	Team	Pld	HW	HD	HL	HGF	HGA	AW	AD	AL	AGF	AGA	GD	Pts	Promotion or relegation
1	Halifax Town	42	17	4	0	51	15	8	8	5	23	28	+31	87	Football Conference Champions, promoted to Football League Division Three
2	Cheltenham Town[lower-alpha 1]	42	15	4	2	39	15	8	5	8	24	28	+20	78	FA Trophy winners
3	Woking	42	14	3	4	47	22	8	5	8	25	24	+26	74
4	Rushden & Diamonds	42	12	4	5	44	26	11	1	9	35	31	+22	74
5	Morecambe	42	11	4	6	35	30	10	6	5	42	34	+13	73	Conference League Cup winners
6	Hereford United	42	11	7	3	30	19	7	6	8	26	30	+7	67	Relegated from The Football League
7	Hednesford Town	42	14	4	3	28	12	4	8	9	31	38	+9	66
8	Slough Town	42	10	6	5	34	21	8	4	9	24	28	+9	64	Demoted[lower-alpha 2]
9	Northwich Victoria	42	8	9	4	34	24	7	6	8	29	35	+4	60
10	Welling United	42	11	5	5	39	27	6	4	11	25	35	+2	60
11	Yeovil Town[lower-alpha 1]	42	14	3	4	45	24	3	5	13	28	39	+10	59
12	Hayes	42	10	4	7	36	25	6	6	9	26	27	+10	58
13	Dover Athletic	42	10	4	7	34	29	5	6	10	26	41	−10	55
14	Kettering Town	42	8	6	7	29	29	5	7	9	24	31	−7	52
15	Stevenage Borough	42	8	8	5	35	27	5	4	12	24	36	−4	51
16	Southport	42	9	5	7	32	26	4	6	11	24	32	−2	50
17	Kidderminster Harriers	42	6	8	7	32	31	5	6	10	24	32	−7	47
18	Farnborough Town	42	10	3	8	37	27	2	5	14	19	43	−14	44
19	Leek Town[lower-alpha 1]	42	8	8	5	34	26	2	6	13	18	41	−15	44
20	Telford United	42	6	7	8	25	31	4	5	12	28	45	−23	42
21	Gateshead	42	7	6	8	32	35	1	5	15	19	52	−36	35	Relegated to the Northern Premier League
22	Stalybridge Celtic	42	6	5	10	33	38	1	3	17	15	55	−45	29	Relegated to the Northern Premier League

Source: [1]
Notes:

New club in the Conference
Slough Town were demoted because their ground did not meet Conference National requirements. They were demoted to the Isthmian Premier League.

Results

Home \ Away	CHL	DOV	FAR	GAT	HAL	HAY	HED	HER	KET	KID	LEE	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	0–4	3–3	2–1	3–1	2–0	1–3	0–1	0–1	1–1
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	1–0	4–1	0–1	3–3	0–1		0–1	1–0	3–0	2–0	3–2	0–1	2–1	2–2
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

Updated to match(es) played on unknown. Source: Glenda Rollin (ed.), Jack Rollin (exec. ed.), Rothmans Football Yearbook 1998–99. Headline, 1998.[1]
Colours: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Farnborough

Kidderminster Harriers

Stevenage

Locations of the Football Conference 1997–1998 teams

Hayes

Welling

Locations of the Football Conference London teams 1997–1998

Top scorers in order of league goals

Rank	Player	Club	League	FA Cup	FA Trophy	League Cup	Total[1]
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	Hereford United & 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

Glenda Rollin (ed.), Jack Rollin (exec. ed.), Rothmans Football Yearbook 1998–99. Headline, 1998.

External links

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[table_note_CHL0.72091590693263-1] New club in the Conference

[table_note_res_DEM0.72091590693263-2] Slough Town were demoted because their ground did not meet Conference National requirements. They were demoted to the Isthmian Premier League.

[Rothmans-3] Glenda Rollin (ed.), Jack Rollin (exec. ed.), Rothmans Football Yearbook 1998–99. Headline, 1998.