2001–02 Football Conference

The 2001–02 Football Conference season was the twenty-third season of the Football Conference, also known as the Nationwide Conference for sponsorship reasons.

Football Conference

Season	2001–02[1]
Champions	Boston United (1st Football Conference title)
Direct promotion	Boston United
Conference League Cup winners	Competition not held
FA Trophy winners	Yeovil Town (1st FA Trophy title)
Relegated to Level 6	Dover Athletic, Hayes, Stalybridge Celtic
Matches played	462
Goals scored	1,289 (2.79 per match)
Top goalscorer	Daryl Clare (Boston United), 24 Mark Stein (Dagenham & Redbridge), 24
Biggest home win	Margate – Stalybridge Celtic 8–0 (27 April 2002)
Biggest away win	Dagenham & Redbridge – Telford 1–5 (22 December 2001); Hayes – Doncaster 1–5 (15 September 2001); Morecambe – Yeovil 1–5 (9 February 2002); Hayes – Yeovil 0–4 (26 January 2002); Stalybridge Celtic – Chester 0–4 (9 March 2002)
Highest scoring	Margate – Stalybridge Celtic 8–0 (27 April 2002)
Longest winning run	?
Longest unbeaten run	?
Longest losing run	?
Highest attendance	Yeovil Town v Boston United, 5,061 (26 March 2002)
Lowest attendance	?
Average attendance	1,370 (– 12% compared with the previous season)
← 2000–01 2002–03 →

Changes since the previous season

• Barnet (relegated from the Football League 2000–01)
• Farnborough Town (promoted 2000–01)
• Margate (promoted 2000–01)
• Stalybridge Celtic (promoted 2000–01)

Overview

The manager of Boston United, Steve Evans, and former chairman, Pat Malkinson, were charged with breaking the Football Association's rules over the registration of players. Both men received bans from the FA, and the club were fined and docked four points from their first season in the League. This angered some, especially the Conference runners up Dagenham & Redbridge, who believed that any points deduction should have applied to the previous season, which would have meant Dagenham being promoted instead.

Locations

Barnet

Boston United

Chester

Dagenham & R

Doncaster

Dover

Farnborough

Forest Green Rovers

Hayes

Hereford United

Leigh RMI

Margate

Morecambe

Northwich Victoria

Nuneaton

Scarborough

Southport

Stalybridge

Stevenage

Telford

Woking

Yeovil Town

Locations of the Football Conference 2001–2002 teams

Final league table

Pos	Team	Pld	HW	HD	HL	HGF	HGA	AW	AD	AL	AGF	AGA	GD	Pts	Promotion or relegation
1	Boston United[a]	42	12	5	4	53	24	13	4	4	31	18	+42	84	Football Conference Champions, promoted to Football League Division Three
2	Dagenham & Redbridge	42	13	6	2	35	20	11	6	4	35	27	+23	84
3	Yeovil Town	42	6	7	8	27	30	13	6	2	39	23	+13	70	FA Trophy winners
4	Doncaster Rovers	42	11	6	4	41	23	7	7	7	27	23	+22	67
5	Barnet	42	10	4	7	30	19	9	6	6	34	29	+16	67	Relegated from The Football League
6	Morecambe	42	12	5	4	30	27	5	6	10	33	40	−4	62
7	Farnborough Town[b]	42	11	3	7	38	23	7	4	10	28	31	+12	61
8	Margate[b]	42	7	9	5	33	22	7	7	7	26	31	+6	58
9	Telford United	42	8	6	7	34	31	6	9	6	29	27	+5	57
10	Nuneaton Borough	42	9	3	9	33	27	7	6	8	24	30	0	57
11	Stevenage Borough	42	10	4	7	36	30	5	6	10	21	30	−3	55
12	Scarborough	42	9	6	6	27	22	5	8	8	28	41	−8	55[c]
13	Northwich Victoria	42	9	4	8	32	34	7	3	11	25	36	−13	55
14	Chester City	42	7	7	7	26	23	8	2	11	28	28	+3	54
15	Southport	42	9	6	6	40	26	4	8	9	13	23	+4	53
16	Leigh RMI	42	6	4	11	29	29	9	4	8	27	29	−2	53
17	Hereford United	42	9	6	6	28	15	5	4	12	22	38	−3	52
18	Forest Green Rovers	42	7	7	7	28	32	5	8	8	26	44	−22	51
19	Woking	42	7	5	9	28	29	6	4	11	31	41	−11	48
20	Hayes	42	6	2	13	27	45	7	3	11	26	35	−27	44	Relegated to the Isthmian League Premier Division
21	Stalybridge Celtic[b]	42	7	6	8	26	32	4	4	13	14	37	−29	43	Relegated to the Northern Premier League Premier Division
22	Dover Athletic	42	6	5	10	20	25	5	1	15	21	40	−24	39	Relegated to the Southern League Premier Division

Source: ^[1]
Notes:

1. Boston United were charged with breaking the Football Association's rules over the registration of players. The club was fined and docked four points from their first season in the League.
2. New club in the Conference
3. Scarborough had 1 point deducted for breach of a rule.

Results

Home \ Away	BAR	BOS	CHE	D&R	DON	DOV	FAR	FGR	HAY	HER	LEI	MAR	MOR	NOR	NUN	SCA	SOU	STL	STB	TEL	WOK	YEO
Barnet		0–1	3–1	4–0	2–0	2–0	0–3	0–1	3–1	2–0	1–1	4–1	1–0	1–0	0–1	1–1	0–0	1–2	0–3	0–0	3–0	2–3
Boston United	1–1		0–1	1–2	2–2	4–2	4–0	6–1	4–1	3–4	2–1	0–1	2–1	3–2	4–1	2–2	0–0	4–1	0–0	3–1	4–0	4–0
Chester City	1–0	1–2		0–1	1–1	3–0	1–0	2–3	3–1	2–0	1–1	0–3	1–1	1–2	1–0	0–0	0–2	0–0	5–1	2–2	0–2	1–1
Dagenham & Redbridge	1–1	1–0	3–0		1–0	1–0	2–1	1–1	1–1	1–0	0–1	4–1	3–2	1–1	2–0	4–2	1–1	2–1	1–0	1–5	3–1	1–1
Doncaster Rovers	2–3	0–1	2–0	0–0		2–1	1–1	5–1	5–2	4–0	2–0	1–0	3–3	2–2	2–2	4–3	1–0	0–1	2–0	1–0	1–1	1–2
Dover Athletic	2–2	3–2	1–0	0–1	0–1		2–1	1–2	3–2	0–1	0–0	0–0	1–1	2–1	1–2	0–2	0–1	1–0	0–1	0–1	2–2	1–2
Farnborough Town	2–1	0–2	1–1	1–2	0–1	1–0		3–0	1–2	4–2	3–0	0–0	2–1	4–1	2–1	4–2	0–1	2–0	6–1	1–1	0–1	1–3
Forest Green Rovers	2–2	0–3	0–2	2–4	0–2	2–1	1–0		2–1	1–1	1–2	3–3	3–1	2–0	1–2	2–2	2–1	0–2	0–0	1–1	2–1	1–1
Hayes	0–2	0–2	1–3	2–4	1–5	2–1	0–3	1–1		4–1	2–1	2–4	3–1	1–2	1–2	1–2	1–0	0–0	0–2	1–4	4–1	0–4
Hereford United	2–1	0–1	1–0	1–0	0–0	3–0	4–2	0–0	0–1		0–1	3–0	0–2	1–0	1–1	6–0	0–0	3–0	1–1	0–1	2–2	0–2
Leigh RMI	3–3	1–2	3–0	2–0	1–4	1–2	3–0	1–2	1–1	0–1		2–2	0–1	1–2	0–1	1–1	1–2	1–0	1–2	3–1	3–1	0–1
Margate	0–1	1–1	0–0	1–1	1–1	0–1	2–1	1–1	1–0	2–2	1–2		1–1	1–2	1–1	1–1	2–0	8–0	2–1	3–1	4–3	0–1
Morecambe	1–0	0–0	0–3	1–1	2–1	2–1	1–1	2–0	2–1	2–2	1–3	2–1		2–1	1–0	2–0	2–2	1–0	0–3	2–1	3–1	1–5
Northwich Victoria	0–3	1–2	3–1	1–2	2–3	2–1	1–2	2–2	1–0	1–0	0–3	1–1	4–3		3–0	1–1	3–1	1–0	2–1	2–2	0–3	1–3
Nuneaton Borough	2–3	1–1	1–3	2–0	2–3	3–0	1–1	2–1	0–2	2–0	2–1	0–0	2–3	0–1		1–2	3–0	3–1	2–1	1–2	2–0	1–2
Scarborough	3–0	2–0	2–1	0–0	1–0	1–1	1–0	1–1	1–2	3–2	2–5	0–1	0–2	1–2	1–2		2–0	1–1	1–1	3–1	1–0	0–0
Southport	0–1	2–3	3–2	2–2	1–0	0–2	2–5	5–1	2–3	1–1	5–0	1–2	1–1	5–1	1–1	1–0		3–1	0–0	0–0	2–0	3–0
Stalybridge Celtic	1–1	2–1	0–4	2–3	1–0	0–2	1–1	2–1	1–0	0–2	0–1	2–2	4–3	1–1	4–2	2–3	0–0		2–0	0–2	0–2	1–1
Stevenage Borough	3–2	1–2	2–1	1–3	0–0	1–3	1–2	4–1	1–1	3–1	0–1	3–1	3–1	1–0	2–2	2–0	2–1	2–0		1–1	1–4	2–3
Telford United	1–2	2–2	0–3	1–4	1–1	4–3	0–1	0–0	1–2	0–1	3–1	2–0	4–1	1–0	0–2	3–0	1–1	3–1	2–1		3–3	2–2
Woking	1–3	0–2	2–1	0–2	3–1	4–0	3–2	3–4	0–1	1–0	1–1	0–1	1–3	3–1	0–0	1–2	2–0	1–1	1–1	1–1		0–2
Yeovil Town	1–2	0–1	0–1	3–3	1–1	2–0	0–1	2–2	2–1	2–1	2–1	1–2	1–1	2–3	2–1	2–2	0–0	0–2	2–1	1–1	1–3

Updated to match(es) played on unknown. Source: Glenda Rollin and Jack Rollin (eds.), Rothmans Football Yearbook 2002–2003. Headline, 2002
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Top scorers in order of league goals

Rank	Player	Club	League	FA Cup	FA Trophy	League Cup	LDV	Total
1	Daryl Clare	Boston United	24				0
=	Mark Stein	Dagenham & Redbridge	24				0
3	Ken Charlery	Dagenham & Redbridge	17				1
=	Mark Cooper	Forest Green Rovers	17				0
5	Mark Beesley	Chester City	16				0
=	Gregg Blundell	Northwich Victoria	16				0
=	Leon Braithwaite	Margate	16				0
=	Simon Parke	Southport	16				0
9	Lenny Piper	Farnborough Town	15				0
=	Robbie Talbot	Morecambe	15				0
=	Michael Twiss	Leigh RMI	15				0
12	Jamie Paterson	Doncaster Rovers	14				0
13	Dean Clark	Hayes	13				0
=	Mark Quayle	Telford United	13				0
=	Dino Maamria	Leigh RMI	12				1
=	Ian Hodges	Hayes	12				0
=	Darren Stamp	Scarborough	12				0
=	Joff Vansittart	Farnborough Town	12				0
=	Simon Weatherstone	Boston United	12				0
20	Warren Patmore	Woking	11				0

• Footballtransfers.co.uk, thefootballarchives.com and Soccerbase contain information on many players
  on whom there is not yet an article in Wikipedia.
• Source:^[1]