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

Season	1987–88
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	1,386 (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 September 1987)
Highest scoring	Barnet – 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 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 →

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.

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

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
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	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	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	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:
Notes:

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.
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

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

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Locations of the Football Conference teams 1987–1988

Barnet

Dagenham

Enfield

Fisher Athletic

Sutton

Wealdstone

Welling

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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	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)

External links

• 1987–88 Conference National Results