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.

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 →

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	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Promotion or relegation
1	Halifax Town (C, P)	42	25	12	5	74	43	+31	87	Promotion to the Football League Third Division
2	Cheltenham Town	42	23	9	10	63	43	+20	78
3	Woking	42	22	8	12	72	46	+26	74
4	Rushden & Diamonds	42	23	5	14	79	57	+22	74
5	Morecambe	42	21	10	11	77	64	+13	73
6	Hereford United	42	18	13	11	56	49	+7	67
7	Hednesford Town	42	18	12	12	59	50	+9	66
8	Slough Town (R)	42	18	10	14	58	49	+9	64	Demoted to the Isthmian League Premier Division[a]
9	Northwich Victoria	42	15	15	12	63	59	+4	60
10	Welling United	42	17	9	16	64	62	+2	60
11	Yeovil Town	42	17	8	17	73	63	+10	59
12	Hayes	42	16	10	16	62	52	+10	58
13	Dover Athletic	42	15	10	17	60	70	−10	55
14	Kettering Town	42	13	13	16	53	60	−7	52
15	Stevenage Borough	42	13	12	17	59	63	−4	51
16	Southport	42	13	11	18	56	58	−2	50
17	Kidderminster Harriers	42	11	14	17	56	63	−7	47
18	Farnborough Town	42	12	8	22	56	70	−14	44
19	Leek Town	42	10	14	18	52	67	−15	44
20	Telford United	42	10	12	20	53	76	−23	42
21	Gateshead (R)	42	8	11	23	51	87	−36	35	Relegation to the Northern Premier League Premier Division
22	Stalybridge Celtic (R)	42	7	8	27	48	93	−45	29

Source: ^[1]
(C) Champions; (P) Promoted; (R) Relegated
Notes:

1. Slough Town were demoted to the Isthmian League Premier Division due to their ground no longer meeting Football Conference requirements.

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

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

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

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