2002–03 Football Conference

The 2002–03 Football Conference season was the 24th season of the Football Conference.

Football Conference

Season	2002–03[1][2]
Champions	Yeovil Town (1st Football Conference title)
Direct promotion	Yeovil Town
Promoted through play-offs	Doncaster Rovers
FA Trophy winners	Burscough (Northern Premier League Premier Division) (1st FA Trophy title)
Relegated to Level 6	Kettering Town, Nuneaton Borough, Southport
Matches played	462
Goals scored	1,342 (2.9 per match)
Top goalscorer	Paul Barnes (Doncaster Rovers), 25
Biggest home win	Yeovil – Southport 6–0 (5 October 2002)
Biggest away win	Woking – Morecambe 0–6 (22 February 2003)
Highest scoring	Burton Albion – Telford 4–7 (8 February 2003)
Longest winning run	?
Longest unbeaten run	?
Longest losing run	?
Highest attendance	Yeovil Town v Chester City, 8,111 (26 April 2003)
Lowest attendance	?
Average attendance	1,616 (+ 18% compared with the previous season)
← 2001–02 2003–04 →

Overview

This season the number of teams promoted to the Football League Division Three was increased from one to two, and play-offs were introduced to determine the second team to be promoted, along with the Conference champions. The bottom three, as usual, were relegated to either the Northern Premier League, the Southern Premier League or the Isthmian League.

Yeovil Town clinched the league title and won promotion to the Football League Division Three.

Doncaster Rovers also earned promotion to Division Three following their 3–2 play-off win over Dagenham & Redbridge, during extra time with a sudden death goal in the 110th minute.

The regular season began on 17 August 2002, and ended on 26 April 2003.

Changes since the previous season

• Burton Albion (promoted 2001–02)
• Gravesend & Northfleet (promoted 2001–02)
• Halifax Town (relegated from the Football League 2001–02)
• Kettering Town (promoted 2001–02)

Final league table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Promotion or relegation
1	Yeovil Town (C, P)	42	28	11	3	100	37	+63	95	Promotion to the Football League Third Division
2	Morecambe	42	23	9	10	86	42	+44	78	Qualification for the Football Conference play-offs
3	Doncaster Rovers (O, P)	42	22	12	8	73	47	+26	78
4	Chester City	42	21	12	9	59	31	+28	75
5	Dagenham & Redbridge	42	21	9	12	71	59	+12	72
6	Hereford United	42	19	7	16	64	51	+13	64
7	Scarborough	42	18	10	14	63	54	+9	64
8	Halifax Town	42	18	10	14	50	51	−1	64
9	Forest Green Rovers	42	17	8	17	61	62	−1	59
10	Margate	42	15	11	16	60	66	−6	56
11	Barnet	42	13	14	15	65	68	−3	53
12	Stevenage Borough	42	14	10	18	61	55	+6	52
13	Farnborough Town	42	13	12	17	57	56	+1	51
14	Northwich Victoria	42	13	12	17	66	72	−6	51
15	Telford United	42	14	7	21	54	69	−15	49
16	Burton Albion	42	13	10	19	52	77	−25	49
17	Gravesend & Northfleet	42	12	12	18	62	73	−11	48
18	Leigh RMI	42	14	6	22	44	71	−27	48
19	Woking	42	11	14	17	52	81	−29	47
20	Nuneaton Borough (R)	42	13	7	22	51	78	−27	46	Relegation to the Southern League Premier Division
21	Southport (R)	42	11	12	19	54	69	−15	45	Relegation to the Northern Premier League Premier Division
22	Kettering Town (R)	42	8	7	27	37	73	−36	31	Relegation to the Isthmian League Premier Division

Source: ^[1]
(C) Champions; (O) Play-off winners; (P) Promoted; (R) Relegated

Locations

Barnet

Burton Albion

Chester

Dagenham & R

Doncaster

Farnborough

Forest Green Rovers

Gravesend & N

Halifax Town

Hereford United

Kettering Town

Leigh RMI

Margate

Morecambe

Northwich Victoria

Nuneaton

Scarborough

Southport

Stevenage

Telford

Woking

Yeovil Town

Locations of the Football Conference 2002–2003 teams

Barnet

Dagenham & Redbridge

Gravesend & Northfleet

Locations of the Football Conference London teams 2002–2003

Results

Home \ Away	BAR	BRT	CHE	D&R	DON	FAR	FGR	GRN	HAL	HER	KET	LEI	MAR	MOR	NOR	NUN	SCA	SOU	STB	TEL	WOK	YEO
Barnet		2–2	0–3	2–1	1–2	1–2	2–0	1–4	0–0	2–1	0–2	4–0	0–1	1–1	3–4	2–1	3–0	3–1	0–2	3–0	0–0	2–1
Burton Albion	0–3		2–0	0–0	1–2	2–0	2–3	1–1	2–2	2–0	2–0	0–1	0–1	1–4	1–1	1–0	1–1	1–0	1–2	4–7	0–2	1–1
Chester City	1–1	2–1		5–2	1–0	0–2	0–1	1–1	2–0	0–1	0–0	2–1	5–0	2–1	2–3	1–2	0–0	2–0	2–0	4–1	2–2	2–2
Dagenham & Redbridge	5–1	1–2	1–0		3–3	1–0	3–1	4–0	0–0	1–0	3–1	3–1	3–0	1–1	2–0	1–2	1–0	0–3	3–2	1–1	1–1	0–4
Doncaster Rovers	2–1	1–0	0–0	5–1		1–0	1–0	4–1	0–0	1–0	3–1	3–1	3–0	1–1	2–0	1–2	1–0	0–3	3–2	1–1	1–1	0–4
Farnborough Town	2–2	5–1	1–2	1–0	0–0		0–3	1–1	3–0	2–2	0–1	1–0	4–1	2–3	3–2	0–2	1–1	2–1	0–1	2–2	5–0	2–4
Forest Green Rovers	4–4	2–0	0–2	5–2	1–2	3–1		2–1	0–2	1–3	1–0	4–1	4–1	1–0	1–0	6–1	0–0	0–2	0–3	1–1	3–2	2–1
Gravesend & Northfleet	2–2	3–2	0–1	1–2	2–2	0–0	1–1		1–0	3–0	0–2	1–3	1–2	3–2	1–1	4–1	5–2	1–3	2–1	0–2	4–2	2–4
Halifax Town	2–4	0–1	0–0	3–3	2–1	1–0	1–1	2–1		1–0	4–0	1–0	2–2	1–0	0–5	3–1	2–1	3–4	1–0	2–0	1–1	2–3
Hereford United	4–0	4–0	0–0	2–1	2–4	2–1	1–1	3–0	1–1		2–0	0–1	2–3	1–2	1–2	2–1	0–1	0–2	2–2	2–0	5–0	0–0
Kettering Town	1–2	1–2	0–1	1–3	0–2	1–4	2–3	1–1	0–1	2–3		0–1	1–1	3–2	2–2	3–0	1–3	1–0	1–0	2–4	0–3	0–1
Leigh RMI	4–2	4–2	0–4	1–3	0–2	3–2	1–0	0–0	0–2	0–2	2–2		2–0	1–0	1–1	1–1	0–2	1–1	2–1	0–3	1–0	2–4
Margate	2–2	0–0	0–1	0–1	2–1	0–0	3–0	4–2	2–1	0–2	2–2	2–0		1–1	4–4	1–1	3–1	1–0	1–1	1–1	2–1	1–2
Morecambe	1–1	5–0	1–1	2–1	3–0	1–1	4–0	2–0	2–0	3–1	1–0	2–1	3–0		3–1	3–2	3–1	3–0	3–1	1–0	5–0	1–2
Northwich Victoria	1–1	1–3	1–1	0–2	1–2	2–2	2–1	1–2	0–2	2–2	1–2	0–1	1–0	3–2		3–1	0–2	2–1	1–1	2–1	1–3	1–2
Nuneaton Borough	3–2	1–2	1–0	1–3	0–3	0–2	3–2	0–1	2–0	0–3	1–0	0–1	3–2	1–1	1–4		1–1	3–2	3–0	1–0	1–1	1–1
Scarborough	1–1	4–1	0–1	0–1	2–5	1–0	3–0	3–2	0–1	2–1	4–1	2–0	3–2	1–0	4–1	4–1		2–2	1–2	1–4	1–1	2–1
Southport	2–1	2–2	1–3	2–3	0–4	0–0	2–2	1–1	2–0	1–2	0–0	4–2	0–2	2–3	1–1	1–0	1–1		3–2	1–1	5–1	0–1
Stevenage Borough	1–2	0–1	0–1	2–0	2–3	5–0	0–0	1–0	0–1	0–2	2–0	3–1	1–3	1–1	2–2	3–1	1–1	3–0		1–3	1–1	2–2
Telford United	2–1	0–2	0–1	1–2	4–4	0–2	0–1	2–1	1–2	0–1	2–0	1–1	1–0	0–3	1–0	1–2	0–2	2–0	1–3		1–0	0–5
Woking	0–0	2–2	1–0	0–0	2–2	1–1	1–0	2–3	2–1	1–2	2–1	3–0	1–5	0–6	2–3	2–1	2–1	1–1	1–5	3–0		1–1
Yeovil Town	0–0	6–1	1–1	2–2	1–1	2–0	1–0	2–2	3–0	4–0	4–0	3–1	2–1	2–0	2–1	3–2	1–0	6–0	2–1	3–0	4–0

Updated to match(es) played on unknown. Source: Soccerbase
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Play-offs

Main article: 2003 Football Conference play-off Final

The Conference National play-offs determine the second team that will be promoted to the Football League Division Three. The teams placed second through fifth qualify for the play-offs. The semi-finals are played in a two-leg, home and away format, while the final is played as one leg, and this season it was held on 10 May 2003 at Britannia Stadium, Stoke, before a crowd of 13,092.

	Semi-finals 1st leg – 1 May 2003; 2nd leg – 5 May 2003							Final at Britannia Stadium, Stoke-on-Trent 10 May 2003
	3rd	Doncaster Rovers (pen.)	1	1	2 (4)
	4th	Chester City	1	1	2 (3)
								3rd	Doncaster Rovers (a.e.t.), golden goal)	3
								5th	Dagenham & Redbridge	2
	2nd	Morecambe	1	2	3 (2)
	5th	Dagenham & Redbridge (pen.)	2	1	3 (3)

Source:^[1]

Semifinals

1 May 2003

1st Leg

Doncaster Rovers	1–1	Chester City
Whitman 90'	Report	McIntyre 37'

Belle Vue, Doncaster

Attendance: 6,857

5 May 2003

2nd Leg

Chester City	1–1 (a.e.t.)	Doncaster Rovers
Hatswell 31'	Report	Barnes 57'
Penalties
Clare Quayle Davies McIntyre Cameron	3–4	Paterson Blundell Blunt Morley Ryan

Deva Stadium, Chester

Attendance: 5,702

Referee: Atkinson

Doncaster Rovers win 4–3 on penalties after tying 2–2 on Aggregate.

---

1 May 2003

1st Leg

Dagenham & Redbridge	2–1	Morecambe
Stein 7', 66' (pen.)	Report	Goodwin 29' (o.g.)

Victoria Road, Dagenham

Attendance: 3,447

5 May 2003

2nd Leg

Morecambe	2–1 (a.e.t.)	Dagenham & Redbridge
West 58' (o.g.) Rigoglioso 86'	Report	Terry 89'
Penalties
McKearney Murphy Drummond	2–3	Stein Shipp Mustafa Terry Matthews

Christie Park, Morecambe

Attendance: 5,405

Referee: Foster

Dagenham & Redbridge win 3–2 on penalties after tying 3–3 on Aggregate.

Play-Off Final

10 May 2003

Dagenham & Redbridge	2–3 (a.e.t.)	Doncaster Rovers
Stein 63' Mustafa 78'		Green 39' Morley 55' Tierney 110'

Britannia Stadium, Stoke

Attendance: 13,092

Referee: Andre Marriner

Top scorers in order of league goals

Rank	Player	Club	League	Play-offs	FA Cup	FA Trophy	LDV	Total
1	Paul Barnes	Doncaster Rovers	25	1	2	0	0	28
2	Kirk Jackson	Yeovil Town	24	0	1	1	1	27
3	Gregg Blundell	Doncaster Rovers	20	0	0	2	0	22
4	Junior Agogo	Barnet	20	0	0	0	0	20
5	Wayne Curtis	Morecambe	18	0	0	0	0	18
6	Dino Maamria	Stevenage Borough	17	0	1	0	0	18
=	Daryl Clare	Chester City	17	0	0	0	0	17
8	Mark Stein	Dagenham & Redbridge	16	3	0	2	0	21
=	Christian Moore	Burton Albion	16	0	2	0	0	18
=	Steve West	Dagenham & Redbridge	16	0	0	1	0	17
=	David Brown	Telford United	16	0	0	1	0	17
12	Neil Grayson	Forest Green Rovers	15	0	0	5	0	20
=	Mark Quayle	Chester City	15	0	1	0	0	16
14	Warren Patmore	Woking	14	0	0	2	0	16
=	Paul Moore	Telford United	14	0	0	1	0	15
16	Kayode Odejayi	Forest Green Rovers	13	0	1	2	0	16
=	Lee Elam	Morecambe	13	0	1	1	0	15
=	Kevin Gall	Yeovil Town	13	0	0	1	0	14
=	Steve Guinan	Hereford United	13	0	0	0	0	13

• Footballtransfers.co.uk contains information on many players on whom there is not yet an article in Wikipedia.

Source:^[1]