1977–78 Northern Premier League

The 1977–78 Northern Premier League was the tenth season of the Northern Premier League, a regional football league in Northern England, the northern areas of the Midlands and North Wales. The season began on 21 August 1976 and concluded on 7 May 1978.

Northern Premier League

Season	1977–78
Champions	Boston United
Promoted	Wigan Athletic
Relegated	Great Harwood
Matches played	552
Goals scored	1,648 (2.99 per match)
Biggest home win	Gateshead 8–0 South Liverpool (14 February 1978)
Biggest away win	South Liverpool 0–5 Northwich Victoria (10 September 1977) Lancaster City 1–6 Wigan Athletic (22 October 1977)
Highest scoring	Boston United 7–3 Frickley Athletic (25 February 1978)
Longest winning run	10 matches Bangor City (11 March 1978 – 18 April 1978)
Longest unbeaten run	26 matches Wigan Athletic (11 October 1977 – 5 April 1978)
Longest winless run	12 matches Barrow (27 August 1977 – 22 October 1977) Lancaster City (26 November 1977 – 11 March 1978)
Longest losing run	6 matches Workington (12 October 1977 – 19 November 1977) Buxton (1 April 1978 – 24 April 1978)
← 1976–77 1978–79 →

Overview

The League featured twenty-four teams.

Team changes

The following club left the League at the end of the previous season:

• Gateshead United was Folded. A new club formed Gateshead replaced.

The following club joined the League at the start of the season:

• Workington relegated from Football League Fourth Division
• Gateshead (new club formed) replaced to the Gateshead United (Club Folded).

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Boston United (C)	46	31	9	6	85	35	+50	71
2	Wigan Athletic (P)	46	25	15	6	83	45	+38	65	Promoted to Football League Fourth Division
3	Bangor City	46	26	10	10	92	50	+42	62
4	Scarborough	46	26	10	10	80	39	+41	62
5	Altrincham	46	22	15	9	84	49	+35	59
6	Northwich Victoria	46	22	14	10	83	55	+28	58
7	Stafford Rangers	46	22	13	11	71	41	+30	57
8	Runcorn	46	19	18	9	70	44	+26	56
9	Mossley	46	22	11	13	85	73	+12	55
10	Matlock Town	46	21	12	13	79	60	+19	54
11	Lancaster City	46	15	14	17	66	82	−16	44
12	Frickley Athletic	46	15	12	19	77	81	−4	42
13	Barrow	46	14	12	20	58	61	−3	40
14	Goole Town	46	15	9	22	60	68	−8	39
15	Great Harwood	46	13	13	20	66	83	−17	39	Club Folded.
16	Gainsborough Trinity	46	14	10	22	61	74	−13	38
17	Gateshead	46	16	5	25	65	74	−9	37
18	Netherfield	46	11	13	22	50	80	−30	35
19	Workington	46	13	8	25	48	80	−32	34
20	Worksop Town	46	12	10	24	45	84	−39	34
21	Morecambe	46	11	11	24	67	92	−25	33
22	Macclesfield Town	46	12	9	25	60	92	−32	33
23	Buxton	46	13	6	27	60	95	−35	32
24	South Liverpool	46	9	7	30	53	111	−58	25

Updated to match(es) played on 7 May 1978. Source: The Football Archives
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored. The points system up until the 1982–83 season: 2 points for a win, 1 point for a draw and 0 points for losing.
(C) Champions; (P) Promoted

Results

Home \ Away	ALT	BAN	BRW	BOS	BUX	FRK	GAI	GAT	GOO	GHA	LNC	MAC	MAT	MOR	MOS	NET	NOR	RUN	SCA	SLI	STA	WIG	WRK	WOK
Altrincham		3–3	2–0	3–0	4–0	3–1	0–0	2–2	4–0	5–0	2–2	2–2	2–1	3–2	1–2	2–2	2–2	2–0	0–0	3–1	1–1	0–0	5–1	4–0
Bangor City	2–2		1–0	0–1	1–0	5–2	4–1	4–2	2–1	5–1	1–0	6–1	2–0	1–1	2–3	4–0	1–0	2–1	1–2	6–0	1–0	0–0	3–1	3–0
Barrow	1–2	0–2		0–1	1–1	4–1	2–1	1–0	1–0	7–0	1–0	3–0	0–1	3–0	2–2	0–0	4–2	0–0	0–2	3–1	0–1	1–1	3–1	0–0
Boston United	1–0	3–0	2–0		2–1	7–3	1–0	3–1	2–1	4–2	1–3	1–0	2–1	5–2	0–1	2–0	0–1	0–0	0–0	0–0	1–1	4–2	6–0	4–0
Buxton	0–2	0–4	0–2	0–2		0–1	0–3	2–1	2–1	5–1	4–3	1–1	2–3	1–0	3–3	3–1	0–2	0–2	0–3	3–1	0–3	2–2	0–1	7–0
Frickley Athletic	1–1	1–1	0–0	0–3	4–3		2–0	1–3	2–2	1–1	7–1	3–2	1–1	2–2	2–0	1–2	0–3	0–0	0–1	4–2	0–2	4–0	1–2	0–0
Gainsborough Trinity	0–2	0–0	1–1	2–1	0–1	2–2		3–2	1–2	3–1	1–0	1–2	0–0	2–0	2–2	2–2	3–1	2–1	0–1	4–2	2–2	1–2	2–0	3–2
Gateshead United	5–1	1–2	3–0	0–1	3–1	0–2	0–1		2–4	2–1	2–1	1–2	2–1	3–2	1–3	1–0	1–2	1–3	2–2	8–0	0–3	0–3	2–3	1–1
Goole Town	0–1	1–0	0–0	1–1	6–0	3–4	0–1	2–0		2–1	0–2	3–2	3–1	1–1	1–0	2–2	2–2	1–1	2–1	1–0	2–0	0–2	3–0	0–2
Great Harwood	0–2	7–2	1–1	0–1	4–0	3–1	3–1	1–1	2–2		0–0	1–3	5–2	1–2	4–3	2–2	2–0	2–2	2–1	0–0	1–1	2–3	3–1	3–0
Lancaster City	2–1	1–1	4–3	2–2	0–1	1–4	1–0	2–1	0–0	1–1		3–1	1–0	1–3	3–3	1–0	3–2	1–2	0–0	2–0	0–0	1–6	1–0	2–0
Macclesfield Town	3–3	0–2	5–0	0–1	3–0	0–3	1–0	2–0	2–1	0–1	4–0		2–2	1–2	1–3	0–1	0–4	3–1	1–1	1–3	1–0	0–4	1–1	2–1
Matlock Town	3–4	1–1	3–2	2–1	2–1	2–1	1–1	4–1	1–0	3–0	3–0	2–0		0–0	5–2	2–2	2–2	0–2	0–0	4–0	2–1	0–1	3–1	2–1
Morecambe	0–1	0–1	3–1	0–4	1–1	3–2	1–1	1–0	5–1	2–1	4–2	2–2	0–1		1–5	4–1	1–2	1–1	3–5	0–3	1–2	1–2	3–3	2–2
Mossley	1–1	1–0	1–1	1–2	3–2	2–2	2–1	0–1	3–2	1–1	4–1	2–1	2–1	5–4		3–0	2–2	1–3	1–0	2–1	0–1	1–3	5–0	2–1
Netherfield	2–1	3–2	1–2	0–1	1–2	2–4	2–0	1–0	0–1	2–1	2–5	4–1	0–1	1–2	3–2		0–0	0–3	0–3	2–2	0–0	1–2	1–1	1–0
Northwich Victoria	1–0	1–1	1–0	0–2	2–2	2–0	5–4	4–0	2–1	0–0	5–2	3–0	2–5	3–0	1–0	1–1		0–0	2–1	2–0	1–1	1–1	4–2	5–2
Runcorn	1–1	2–2	1–0	2–2	2–1	1–1	3–2	0–3	4–0	0–2	0–0	6–0	1–1	2–1	0–0	2–0	3–0		1–0	4–0	1–1	2–2	1–0	2–0
Scarborough	0–1	0–2	2–1	1–1	2–1	0–1	2–1	0–0	2–1	2–1	0–0	3–0	2–0	1–0	6–0	5–3	1–0	2–1		6–2	2–0	3–1	1–2	4–0
South Liverpool	0–1	0–4	2–4	1–2	4–3	3–2	2–3	0–1	0–2	3–0	2–2	3–2	3–3	2–1	1–2	0–1	0–5	2–2	0–4		1–2	0–2	0–1	1–0
Stafford Rangers	0–1	4–1	1–0	1–1	4–1	3–1	5–0	0–1	1–0	2–0	3–2	2–2	1–3	3–0	0–0	2–0	0–0	2–1	2–0	2–3		2–2	1–0	3–0
Wigan Athletic	1–0	2–1	4–1	0–2	4–0	1–0	2–1	1–0	2–0	0–0	2–2	1–1	2–0	1–1	1–2	0–0	1–1	0–0	2–4	2–0	1–0		4–1	3–0
Workington	2–1	0–1	2–0	0–1	0–2	0–1	4–1	0–1	2–1	2–0	0–0	2–1	0–3	4–1	1–2	4–0	1–2	1–2	0–0	0–0	0–3	1–4		0–0
Worksop Town	1–0	0–2	2–2	0–1	0–1	2–1	2–1	1–3	2–1	0–1	3–5	3–1	1–1	2–1	1–0	1–1	1–0	2–1	1–2	3–2	4–2	1–1	0–0

Updated to match(es) played on 7 May 1978. Source: The Football Archives
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Stadia and locations

Altrincham

Bangor City

Barrow

Boston United

Buxton

Frickley Athletic

Gainsborough Trinity

Gateshead United

Goole Town

Great Harwood

Lancaster City

Macclesfield Town

Matlock Town

Morecambe

Mossley

Netherfield

Northwich Victoria

Runcorn

Scarborough

South Liverpool

Stafford Rangers

Wigan Athletic

Workington

Worksop Town

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Locations of the 1977–78 Northern Premier League teams

Team	Stadium
Altrincham	Moss Lane
Bangor City	Farrar Road
Barrow	Holker Street
Boston United	York Street
Buxton	The Silverlands
Frickley Athletic	Westfield Lane
Gainsborough Trinity	The Northolme
Gateshead United	Gateshead Youth Stadium
Goole Town	Victoria Pleasure Ground
Great Harwood	The Showground
Lancaster City	Giant Axe
Macclesfield Town	Moss Rose
Matlock Town	Causeway Lane
Morecambe	Christie Park
Mossley	Seel Park
Netherfield	Parkside
Northwich Victoria	Drill Field
Runcorn	Canal Street
Scarborough	Athletic Ground
South Liverpool	Holly Park
Stafford Rangers	Marston Road
Wigan Athletic	Springfield Park
Workington	Borough Park
Worksop Town	Central Avenue

Cup results

Challenge Cup

Main article: Northern Premier League Challenge Cup

Home Team	Score	Away Team
Matlock Town	3–0	Boston United

Northern Premier League Shield

Main article: Northern Premier League Shield

Between Champions of NPL Premier Division and Winners of the NPL Cup.

Home Team	Score	Away Team
Matlock Town	beat	Boston United

FA Cup

Main article: 1977–78 FA Cup

Out of the twenty-four clubs from the Northern Premier League, only two teams reached the second round:

Second Round

Home Team	Score	Away Team
Crewe Alexandra	0–0	Scarborough
Scarborough	2–0	Crewe Alexandra	Replay
Hartlepool United	4–2	Runcorn

Third Round

Home Team	Score	Away Team
Brighton & Hove Albion	3–0	Scarborough

FA Trophy

Main article: 1977–78 FA Trophy

Out of the twenty-four clubs from the Northern Premier League, two teams reached the fourth round:

Fourth Round

Home Team	Score	Away Team
Altrincham	4–2	Winsford United
Merthyr Tydfil	0–0	Runcorn
Runcorn	3–2	Merthyr Tydfil

Semi-finals

Stage	Home Team	Score	Away Team
1st Leg	Altrincham	0–0	Runcorn
2nd Leg	Runcorn	0–1	Altrincham
Aggregate	Altrincham	1–0	Runcorn

Final

Home Team	Score	Away Team
Altrincham	3–1	Leatherhead

End of the season

At the end of the tenth season of the Northern Premier League, Wigan Athletic who was put forward for election, received enough votes, on the second round of voting, to be promoted to the Football League. Great Harwood folded Great Harwood Town replaced in Lancashire Combination

Football League elections

Alongside the four Football League teams facing re-election, two non-League teams, one from the Northern Premier League and the other from the Southern League, applied to be elected. Three out of the four Football League teams were re-elected. Wigan Athletic from the Northern Premier League tied with Southport from the Football League on the first round of voting. A second round was then implemented with Wigan Athletic gaining promotion, replacing Southport from the Football League as they did not receive enough votes. Southport was subsequently relegated to the Northern Premier League.

Club	League	First round votes	Second round votes
York City	Football League Division Four	49
Rochdale	Football League Division Four	39
Hartlepool United	Football League Division Four	37
Wigan Athletic	Northern Premier League	26	29
Southport	Football League Division Four	26	20
Bath City	Southern League	23

Promotion and relegation

The number of clubs reduced from twenty-four clubs to twenty-three clubs for the following season.

The following two clubs left the League at the end of the season:

• Wigan Athletic promoted to Football League Fourth Division
• Great Harwood folded

The following club joined the League the following season:

• Southport demoted from Football League Fourth Division

External links

• Northern Premier League official website
• Northern Premier League tables at RSSSF
• Football Club History Database