2003–04 Football Conference

Since its inception in 1979, The Football Conference has formed the fifth-highest level of the overall English Football League System.

The 2003–04 Football Conference season was the 25th season of the Football Conference and the last consisting of a single division. The top team and the winner of the play-offs were promoted to Football League Two, while this season only one team was relegated.

A total of 22 teams contest the division, including 17 sides from last season, two relegated from the Football League Two and winners of Northern Premier League, Southern Football League and Isthmian League.

Promotion and relegation

Teams promoted from Northern Premier League

• Accrington Stanley

Teams promoted from Southern Football League

• Tamworth

Teams promoted from Isthmian League

• Aldershot Town

Teams relegated from Third Division

• Exeter City
• Shrewsbury Town

Overview

Chester City clinched the league title and won promotion to Football League Two.

Shrewsbury Town also earned promotion to League Two following their 3–0 play-off win on penalties after a 1–1 draw with Aldershot Town.

No clubs were relegated on the basis of their performances, due to Margate being demoted, Telford folding and the winners and runners-up of the Unibond League not meeting the criteria for a place in the Football Conference.

Shrewsbury Town had the highest attendance, 84,150 in all, with an average of 4,007. Margate and Leigh RMI had the least spectators with 11,905 and 11,881, respectively, with an average of 567 and 566, respectively.

The total number of attendance was 880,220, yielding an average of 1905 per game, which was the all-time record for the Football Conference.^[1]

The regular season began on 9 August 2003, and ended on 24 April 2004.

Final league table

Conference National

Season	2003–04[1][2]
Champions	Chester City (1st Football Conference title)
Promoted	Chester City, Shrewsbury Town
Relegated to Conference North/Conference South	Margate (South)
Folded	Telford United
Promoted for the next season	Canvey Island, Crawley Town
Matches played	462
Goals scored	1,343 (2.91 per match)
Top goalscorer	Daryl Clare (Chester City), 29
Biggest home win	Hereford – Halifax 7–1 (25 November 2003) Gravesend & Northfleet – Morecambe 6–0 (28 February 2004)
Biggest away win	Dagenham & Redbridge – Hereford 0–9 (27 February 2004)
Highest scoring	Dagenham & Redbridge – Hereford 0–9 (27 February 2004)
Longest winning run	?
Longest unbeaten run	Chester City, 18 matches (26 Aug – 6 Dec)
Longest losing run	?
Highest attendance	Exeter City v Accrington Stanley, 8,256 (24 Apr)
Lowest attendance	Margate v Forest Green Rovers, 255 (4 April 2003)
Average attendance	1,905 (+ 18% compared to the previous season)
← 2002–03 2004–05 →

Pos	Team	Pld	HW	HD	HL	HGF	HGA	AW	AD	AL	AGF	AGA	GD	Pts	Promotion or relegation
1	Chester City	42	16	4	1	45	18	11	7	3	40	16	+51	92	Football Conference Champions, promoted to League Two
2	Hereford United	42	14	3	4	42	20	14	4	3	61	24	+59	91	Participated in play-offs
3	Shrewsbury Town	42	13	6	2	38	14	7	8	6	29	28	+25	74	Promoted to League Two through play-offs Relegated from The Football League
4	Barnet	42	11	6	4	30	17	8	8	5	30	29	+14	71	Participated in play-offs
5	Aldershot Town[a]	42	12	6	3	40	24	8	4	9	40	43	+13	70
6	Exeter City	42	10	7	4	33	24	9	5	7	38	33	+14	69	Relegated from The Football League
7	Morecambe	42	14	4	3	43	25	6	3	12	23	41	0	67
8	Stevenage Borough	42	10	5	6	29	22	8	4	9	29	30	+6	63
9	Woking	42	10	9	2	40	23	5	7	9	25	29	+13	61
10	Accrington Stanley[a]	42	13	3	5	46	31	2	10	9	22	30	+7	58
11	Gravesend & Northfleet	42	7	6	8	34	35	7	9	5	35	31	+3	57
12	Telford United	42	10	3	8	28	28	5	7	9	21	23	−2	55	Folded following this season
13	Dagenham & Redbridge	42	8	3	10	30	34	7	6	8	29	30	−5	54
14	Burton Albion	42	7	4	10	30	29	8	3	10	27	30	−2	51[b]
15	Scarborough	42	8	9	4	32	25	4	6	11	19	29	−3	51
16	Margate	42	8	2	11	30	32	6	7	8	26	32	−8	51	Relegated to Conference South[c]
17	Tamworth[a]	42	9	6	6	32	30	4	4	13	17	38	−19	49
18	Forest Green Rovers	42	6	8	7	32	36	6	4	11	26	44	−22	48
19	Halifax Town	42	9	4	8	28	26	3	4	14	15	39	−22	44
20	Farnborough Town	42	7	6	8	31	34	3	3	15	22	40	−21	39
21	Leigh RMI	42	4	6	11	26	44	3	2	16	20	53	−51	29
22	Northwich Victoria	42	2	8	11	15	38	2	3	16	15	42	−50	23

Source: ^[1][3]
Notes:

1. New club in the Conference
2. Burton Albion deducted 1 point for breach of rules.
3. Margate were relegated due to ground concerns. They were placed in Conference South.

Note: Hednesford Town (Southern Football League Premier Division) were the FA Trophy winners

Locations

Telford United

Accrington Stanley

Aldershot

Barnet

Burton Albion

Chester

Dagenham & R

Exeter City

Farnborough

Forest Green Rovers

Gravesend & N

Halifax T.

Hereford United

Leigh RMI

Margate

Morecambe

Northwich Victoria

Scarborough

Shrewsbury

Stevenage

Tamworth

Woking

Locations of the Football Conference 2003–04 teams

Barnet

Dagenham & Redbridge

Gravesend & Northfleet

Locations of the Football Conference London teams 2003–2004

Results

Home \ Away	ACC	ALD	BAR	BRT	CHE	D&R	EXE	FAR	FGR	GRN	HAL	HER	LEI	MAR	MOR	NOR	SCA	SHR	STB	TAM	TEL	WOK
Accrington Stanley		4–2	2–0	3–1	0–2	2–3	1–2	3–1	4–1	3–3	2–1	2–0	4–1	3–2	1–0	2–2	1–0	0–1	2–1	3–0	1–5	3–3
Aldershot	2–1		1–1	3–1	1–1	2–1	2–1	2–0	3–0	2–2	3–1	1–2	2–0	0–2	2–2	4–3	1–2	1–1	2–0	1–1	3–1	2–1
Barnet	0–0	2–1		2–1	0–0	2–4	2–3	0–2	5–0	1–0	4–1	1–1	2–1	3–1	2–1	1–0	0–0	0–1	0–0	1–0	2–0	0–0
Burton Albion	1–1	1–4	2–3		1–1	0–1	3–4	1–0	2–3	3–0	2–2	4–1	3–2	0–1	0–1	0–1	2–0	0–1	1–1	0–1	2–1	2–0
Chester City	3–3	4–2	1–0	3–1		2–1	3–2	3–2	1–0	2–2	2–0	0–0	5–0	3–0	2–1	4–0	1–0	2–1	1–2	1–0	0–0	2–1
Dagenham & Redbridge	0–1	2–3	5–2	0–2	0–0		0–2	1–0	5–2	0–4	0–1	0–9	1–2	4–0	1–3	2–0	1–0	5–0	1–2	0–0	1–1	1–0
Exeter City	3–2	2–1	1–1	2–0	2–1	1–1		1–1	2–2	0–1	1–1	0–1	3–2	1–1	4–0	2–0	0–0	3–2	1–0	3–2	0–3	1–2
Farnborough Town	1–1	4–0	1–1	2–1	1–2	2–2	1–2		1–3	1–2	1–0	0–5	1–1	1–1	2–4	2–0	1–2	1–3	2–0	3–3	2–1	1–0
Forest Green Rovers	2–1	3–1	1–1	1–1	2–1	1–3	2–5	1–1		1–2	1–2	1–7	2–2	1–2	1–2	0–0	4–0	1–1	3–1	2–1	0–0	2–2
Gravesend & Northfleet	0–0	1–3	1–1	1–2	0–4	1–2	3–2	2–0	1–1		1–0	2–5	3–1	2–1	6–0	2–2	1–1	0–3	2–3	2–0	1–2	2–2
Halifax Town	1–1	1–2	1–2	1–4	0–3	3–0	2–0	2–0	0–1	1–0		1–2	2–1	0–1	1–0	5–3	1–0	0–0	2–1	1–2	1–1	2–2
Hereford United	1–0	4–3	2–0	1–2	2–1	1–1	1–1	2–0	5–1	3–3	7–1		0–1	2–1	3–0	1–0	2–1	2–1	1–0	0–1	2–1	0–1
Leigh RMI	1–2	2–2	1–4	0–1	2–6	2–1	1–1	0–2	1–2	1–2	1–1	0–5		4–2	3–1	1–0	1–4	2–2	1–3	1–1	1–1	0–1
Margate	3–1	1–2	0–1	1–2	1–2	3–3	0–1	3–0	2–0	1–3	2–0	1–3	2–0		1–1	3–1	0–2	0–2	1–4	3–2	1–0	1–2
Morecambe	1–0	2–0	1–3	2–1	0–1	3–2	0–3	3–2	4–0	2–2	2–0	2–2	1–0	3–3		3–0	2–1	3–3	2–1	4–0	1–0	2–1
Northwich Victoria	3–3	1–1	1–1	1–2	0–4	0–1	1–1	1–1	0–4	0–0	0–1	1–5	0–1	0–3	1–1		1–1	0–2	1–2	1–0	1–0	1–4
Scarborough	2–1	1–0	2–2	1–2	2–2	0–0	2–3	2–1	2–2	2–0	1–0	3–3	4–1	0–1	1–0	1–0		1–1	2–2	0–1	1–1	2–2
Shrewsbury Town	0–0	1–2	0–1	1–0	0–0	2–1	2–2	3–0	2–0	1–1	2–0	4–1	3–1	1–1	2–0	3–1	4–1		3–1	3–1	0–0	1–0
Stevenage Borough	2–1	0–1	1–2	1–0	0–0	0–2	2–2	3–2	2–1	2–2	1–0	0–2	4–0	2–1	0–1	1–0	2–2	2–0		3–1	0–1	1–1
Tamworth	1–1	3–3	2–0	1–1	1–5	2–0	2–1	2–1	1–0	1–3	2–0	1–3	4–3	1–1	2–3	2–1	0–0	1–1	1–2		0–1	2–0
Telford United	1–0	2–5	1–2	2–2	0–2	1–0	2–0	2–4	0–2	1–1	2–1	0–3	5–0	1–1	2–1	0–1	2–1	1–0	0–2	2–0		1–0
Woking	2–2	2–2	2–2	1–0	1–2	0–0	1–0	3–2	1–1	3–2	2–2	0–1	2–0	0–0	4–1	3–0	2–1	3–3	1–1	4–0	3–1

Updated to match(es) played on unknown. Source: Soccerbase; Sky Sports Football Yearbook 2004–2003
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Play-offs

Main article: 2004 Football Conference play-off Final

The Conference National play-offs determined the second team that would be promoted to Football League Two. The teams placed second through fifth qualified for the play-offs. The semi-finals were played in a two-leg, home and away format, while the final was played as one leg.

	Semifinals							Final at Britannia Stadium, Stoke-on-Trent 16 May 2004
	2nd	Hereford United	1	0	1 (2)
	5th	Aldershot Town (pen.)	1	0	1 (4)
								3rd	Shrewsbury Town (pen.)	1 (3)
								5th	Aldershot Town	1 (0)
	3rd	Shrewsbury Town (pen.)	1	1	2 (5)
	4th	Barnet	2	0	2 (3)

Semifinals

Aldershot Town	1–1	Hereford United
Dsane 45' (pen.)	Report	Brown 7'

29 April 2004

19:45 BST

1st Leg

Recreation Ground, Aldershot

Attendance: 6,379

Referee: Jarnail Singh

Hereford United	0–0	Aldershot Town
Tretton  21'	Report
Penalties
Brown Beesley James Smith	2–4	Dsane Gosling Giles Sills Antwi

3 May 2004

15:00 BST

2nd Leg

Edgar Street, Hereford

Attendance: 7,044

Referee: Andy Woolmer

Aldershot Town won 4–2 on penalties after tying 1–1 on Aggregate.

---

Barnet	2–1	Shrewsbury Town
Strevens 13' (pen.) Clist 90'	Report	Rodgers 43' (pen.)

29 April 2004

19:45

1st Leg

Underhill Stadium, Chipping Barnet

Attendance: 4,171

Shrewsbury Town	1–0	Barnet
Rodgers 44' (pen.)	Report
Penalties
Sedgemore Tolley Rodgers Cramb Moss	5–3	Strevens Grazioli Yakubu Clist

3 May 2004

2nd Leg

Gay Meadow, Shrewsbury

Attendance: 7,012

Referee: Pollock

Shrewsbury Town won 5–3 on penalties after tying 2–2 on Aggregate.

Play-Off Final

Aldershot Town	1–1 (a.e.t.)	Shrewsbury Town
McLean 35'		Darby 43'
Penalties
Sills Giles Gosling	0–3	Rodgers Tolley Sedgemore Challis

16 May 2004

13:00

Britannia Stadium, Stoke-on-Trent

Attendance: 19,216

Top scorers in order of league goals

Rank	Player	Club	League	Play-offs	FA Cup	LDV	FA Trophy	Total
1	Daryl Clare	Chester City	29	0	1	0	0	30
2	Steve Guinan	Hereford United	25	0	3	1	0	29
=	David McNiven	Leigh RMI	25	0	0	0	1	26
4	Giuliano Grazioli	Barnet	24	0	2	0	0	26
5	Roscoe D'Sane	Aldershot	21	1	2	0	3	27
6	Sean Devine	Exeter City	20	0	2	0	3	25
=	Paul Mullin	Accrington Stanley	20	0	3	0	1	24
=	Darryn Stamp	Chester City	20	0	0	0	0	20
9	Tim Sills	Aldershot	18	0	1	0	2	21
10	Anthony Elding	Stevenage Borough	17	0	2	0	0	19
=	Lutel James	Accrington Stanley	17	0	1	0	0	18
=	Danny Carlton	Morecambe	17	0	0	0	0	17
13	Mark Cooper	Tamworth	15	0	0	0	0	15
14	David Brown	Hereford United	14	0	0	2	0	16
=	Mark Quayle	Scarborough	14	0	1	0	0	15

Source:^[1]