1989–90 Football Conference

Football league season
Football Conference
Season1989–90[1]
ChampionsDarlington (1st Football Conference title)
Promoted to the Football LeagueDarlington
Conference League Cup winnersYeovil Town
FA Trophy winnersBarrow
Relegated to
Level 6		Chorley,
Enfield,
Farnborough Town
Matches played462
Goals scored1,317 (2.85 per match)
Top goalscorerRobbie Cooke (Kettering Town), 28
Biggest home winRuncorn – Enfield 9–0 (3 March 1990)
Biggest away winBarrow – Merthyr Tydfil 1–5 (18 April 1990);
Stafford Rangers – Darlington 0–4 (21 April 1990);
Telford United – Chorley 0–4 (9 December 1989);
Wycombe Wanderers – Cheltenham Town 0–4 (30 December 1989);
Yeovil Town – Welling United 0–4 (13 September 1989)
Highest scoringRuncorn – Enfield 9–0 (3 March 1990);
Farnborough Town – Runcorn 6–3 (11 November 1989)
Longest winning runBarnet, 8 matches
Longest unbeaten runDarlington, 13 matches
Longest losing runNorthwich Victoria, 6 matches
Highest attendanceBarnet v Darlington, 5,880 (31 March 1990)
Lowest attendance?
Average attendance1,429 (+ 9% from previous season)

The Football Conference season of 1989–90 (known as the GM Vauxhall Conference for sponsorship reasons) was the eleventh season of the Football Conference.

Overview

Darlington, relegated to the Conference from the Fourth Division a year earlier, finished the season as Conference champions and regained their Football League status at the first attempt – just as Lincoln City had done two years earlier. Coming down to the Conference from the Football League were the bottom placed Fourth Division club Colchester United.

New teams in the league this season

Final league table

Pos Team Pld HW HD HL HGF HGA AW AD AL AGF AGA GD Pts Promotion or relegation
1 Darlington 42 13 6 2 43 12 13 3 5 33 13 +51 87 Football Conference Champions, promoted to Football League Fourth Division
2 Barnet 42 15 4 2 46 14 11 3 7 35 27 +40 85
3 Runcorn 42 16 3 2 52 20 3 10 8 27 42 +17 70
4 Macclesfield Town 42 11 6 4 35 16 6 9 6 21 25 +15 66
5 Kettering Town 42 13 5 3 35 15 5 7 9 31 38 +13 66
6 Welling United 42 11 6 4 36 16 7 4 10 26 34 +12 64
7 Yeovil Town 42 9 8 4 32 25 8 4 9 30 29 +8 63 Conference League Cup winners
8 Sutton United 42 14 2 5 42 24 5 4 12 26 40 +4 63
9 Merthyr Tydfil[a] 42 9 9 3 41 30 7 5 9 26 33 +4 62
10 Wycombe Wanderers 42 11 6 4 42 24 6 4 11 22 32 +8 61
11 Cheltenham Town 42 9 6 6 30 22 7 5 9 28 38 −2 59
12 Telford United 42 8 7 6 31 29 7 6 8 25 34 −7 58
13 Kidderminster Harriers 42 7 6 8 37 33 8 3 10 27 34 −3 54
14 Barrow[a] 42 11 8 2 33 25 1 8 12 18 42 −16 52 FA Trophy winners
15 Northwich Victoria 42 9 3 9 29 30 6 2 13 22 37 −16 50
16 Altrincham 42 8 5 8 31 20 4 8 9 18 28 +1 49
17 Stafford Rangers 42 9 6 6 25 23 3 6 12 25 39 −12 48
18 Boston United 42 10 3 8 36 30 3 5 13 12 37 −19 47
19 Fisher Athletic 42 9 1 11 34 34 4 6 11 21 44 −23 46
20 Chorley 42 9 5 7 26 26 4 1 16 16 41 −25 45 Relegated to the Northern Premier League
21 Farnborough Town[a] 42 7 5 9 33 30 3 7 11 27 43 −13 42 Relegated to the Southern League
22 Enfield 42 9 3 9 36 34 1 3 17 16 55 −37 36 Relegated to the Isthmian League
Source: [1]
Notes:
  1. ^ a b c New club in the Conference

Results

Home \ Away ALT BAR BRW BOS CHL CHO DAR ENF FAR FIS KET KID MAC MER NOR RUN STA SUT TEL WEL WYC YEO
Altrincham 2–1 1–1 0–0 5–0 1–0 0–1 3–0 2–3 1–1 1–1 0–1 0–1 4–1 0–2 1–2 3–1 0–0 0–1 4–0 1–2 2–1
Barnet 1–0 1–0 1–2 4–0 5–0 0–2 2–0 4–1 4–1 4–1 2–1 0–0 4–0 1–0 2–2 1–1 4–1 2–1 1–1 2–0 1–0
Barrow 1–1 1–1 2–1 2–1 3–1 1–1 2–2 3–1 1–1 1–0 2–1 1–1 1–5 1–0 2–2 2–1 1–0 3–0 1–1 0–3 2–1
Boston United 2–3 1–2 2–1 2–1 0–1 1–3 1–0 2–2 2–0 1–2 2–3 3–0 2–2 1–3 3–2 3–0 3–1 2–2 2–1 2–0 0–1
Cheltenham Town 0–0 1–0 1–0 0–0 2–0 0–1 3–1 4–0 0–0 1–1 2–1 2–1 0–2 2–3 2–2 1–3 2–0 1–2 3–2 1–1 2–1
Chorley 2–1 1–4 0–1 0–0 0–2 0–3 2–2 1–0 2–0 2–2 1–0 0–0 1–0 1–2 0–2 1–1 3–2 1–2 4–0 1–0 3–2
Darlington 2–0 1–2 0–0 6–1 5–1 3–0 2–1 1–1 5–0 2–1 3–0 1–1 0–0 4–0 1–1 2–1 2–0 1–1 1–0 0–1 1–0
Enfield 2–1 1–3 3–0 0–1 4–2 2–0 0–3 0–0 1–2 0–3 2–1 1–1 2–0 2–0 3–2 4–1 2–3 1–2 2–3 3–5 1–1
Farnborough Town 0–0 0–1 3–0 1–0 4–0 1–3 1–0 2–3 1–1 1–1 0–1 1–2 0–1 0–1 6–3 3–3 1–3 2–1 3–1 1–1 2–4
Fisher Athletic 3–0 1–2 4–0 1–0 2–5 2–0 0–2 3–2 4–2 3–1 1–1 1–3 1–2 1–0 0–1 0–2 1–2 1–3 1–3 3–1 1–2
Kettering Town 3–0 3–2 2–0 5–0 1–0 2–1 1–3 3–2 1–1 3–0 0–2 0–0 2–0 3–0 1–1 0–0 2–0 1–1 0–1 1–0 1–0
Kidderminster Harriers 1–2 0–1 2–2 1–3 1–2 3–1 3–2 2–0 3–1 1–1 2–3 2–2 1–2 4–0 0–0 3–0 2–2 2–4 1–1 0–2 3–2
Macclesfield Town 1–0 0–1 2–1 0–0 3–0 0–0 0–0 4–0 0–0 0–1 3–1 1–2 3–2 3–1 4–0 2–2 1–1 3–0 3–2 1–0 1–2
Merthyr Tydfil 0–0 2–1 3–3 1–0 1–1 1–0 1–1 5–1 1–1 1–4 3–2 3–1 2–3 1–1 3–2 4–3 2–3 0–0 4–0 1–1 2–2
Northwich Victoria 2–3 0–2 1–0 1–0 0–0 0–1 1–0 1–0 0–2 2–1 2–2 1–2 2–0 3–1 1–1 4–3 2–3 0–2 2–3 3–0 1–4
Runcorn 0–0 2–2 4–3 3–1 2–4 3–2 2–1 9–0 3–2 4–0 3–1 2–1 2–0 1–0 2–1 3–0 1–0 3–0 0–1 2–0 1–1
Stafford Rangers 3–1 1–1 1–1 0–0 0–1 1–0 0–4 1–0 3–2 1–3 1–1 0–1 4–2 1–1 1–0 1–1 3–1 2–0 0–2 1–0 0–1
Sutton United 2–1 1–3 3–3 2–0 0–2 3–0 2–1 2–0 2–3 2–1 2–1 1–2 2–1 1–1 2–1 3–0 1–0 6–1 1–0 1–2 3–1
Telford United 1–3 1–3 3–0 4–2 0–0 0–4 0–1 1–1 4–2 3–1 1–3 1–1 1–0 1–1 2–1 2–1 0–2 1–1 0–0 4–1 1–1
Welling United 1–1 3–1 0–0 6–0 1–1 3–1 0–1 3–0 4–3 2–0 3–0 4–1 0–1 0–3 2–0 1–1 1–0 1–0 1–1 0–0 0–1
Wycombe Wanderers 1–1 1–0 4–0 1–0 0–4 4–0 0–1 1–0 1–0 6–1 2–2 3–3 1–1 1–2 3–3 5–0 2–1 3–2 1–1 1–0 1–2
Yeovil Town 0–0 3–2 2–2 2–1 1–1 2–1 0–2 3–1 0–0 2–2 0–2 3–1 0–0 4–0 1–2 1–1 0–0 3–1 1–0 0–4 4–2
Updated to match(es) played on unknown. Source: Jack Rollin (ed.), Rothmans Football Yearbook 1990–91. Queen Anne Press, MacDonald & Co., London and Sydney, 1991.[1]
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.
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Locations of the Football Conference teams 1989–1990

Top scorers in order of league goals

Rank Player Club League FA Cup FA Trophy League Cup Total[1]
1 Robbie Cooke Kettering Town 28 0 0 0 28
2 Efan Ekoku Sutton 25 0 0 0 25
3 Simon Read Farnborough Town 23 2 0 1 26
4 Ian Thompson Merthyr Tydfil 21 3 0 0 24
5 John Borthwick Darlington 19 2 0 1 22
= Mark Carter Runcorn 19 0 2 1 22
7 Mike Doherty Runcorn 18 1 0 0 19
8 Gary Bull Barnet 17 5 0 3 25
= Andrew Clarke Barnet 17 2 0 0 19
= Paul Furlong Enfield 17 0 1 1 19
= Paul Gorman Fisher Athletic 17 0 0 0 17
= Terry Robbins Welling United 17 2 1 2 22
= David Webley Merthyr Tydfil 17 2 0 0 19
14 Steve Burr Macclesfield Town 16 3 2 0 21
= Kim Casey Kidderminster Harriers 16 0 3 6 25
16 Paul McKinnon Sutton 16 1 0 3 20
= Mark West Wycombe Wanderers 16 1 1 2 20
18 Martin Hanchard Northwich Victoria 14 2 0 0 16
= Mark Whitehouse Kidderminster Harriers 14 2 3 2 21
20 David Cork Darlington 12 1 3 1 17
= Colin Cowperthwaite Barrow 12 2 0 1 15
= Ken McKenna Telford United 12 0 2 0 14
= Mickey Spencer Yeovil Town 12 1 1 3 17

Promotion and relegation

Relegated

References

  1. ^ a b c d Jack Rollin (ed.), Rothmans Football Yearbook 1990–91. Queen Anne Press, MacDonald & Co., London and Sydney, 1991.

External links

  • 1989–90 Conference National Results
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