1986–87 Football Conference

Football Conference
Season	1986–87
Champions	Scarborough (1st Football Conference title)
Promoted to the Football League	Scarborough
Conference League Cup winners	Kettering Town
FA Trophy winners	Kidderminster Harriers
Relegated to; Level 6	Frickley Athletic,; Gateshead,; Nuneaton Borough
Matches played	462
Goals scored	1,403 (3.04 per match)
Top goalscorer	Kim Casey (Kidderminster Harriers), 38
Biggest home win	Sutton United – Kettering Town 8–0
Biggest away win	Gateshead – Barnet 1–5;; Nuneaton Borough – Boston United 1–5;; Kidderminster Harriers – Telford United 0–4;; Nuneaton Borough – Weymouth 0–4;; Wealdstone – Boston United 0–4
Highest scoring	Runcorn – Northwich Victoria 7–3
Longest winning run	?
Longest unbeaten run	?
Longest losing run	?
Highest attendance	?
Lowest attendance	?
Average attendance	917
	← Alliance Premier League 1985–86 1987–88 →

The Football Conference season of 1986–87 (known as the GM Vauxhall Conference for sponsorship reasons) was the eighth season of the Football Conference, the first season under this name, this league having earlier been known as the Alliance Premier League.

Overview

This was the first season of automatic promotion for champions of the Conference, following the abolition of the re-election system, and automatic relegation to the Conference for the bottom placed team in the Football League Fourth Division. Scarborough finished the season as Conference champions, and so won automatic promotion to the Football League at the expense of Lincoln City.

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	Scarborough	42	12	7	2	31	19	15	3	3	33	14	+31	91	Football Conference Champions, promoted to the Football League Fourth Division 1987–88
2	Barnet	42	13	4	4	47	22	12	6	3	39	17	+47	85
3	Maidstone United	42	14	4	3	43	16	7	6	8	28	32	+23	73
4	Enfield	42	9	5	7	32	21	12	2	7	34	26	+19	70
5	Altrincham	42	11	7	3	35	18	7	8	6	31	35	+13	69
6	Boston United	42	11	4	6	40	28	10	2	9	42	46	+8	69
7	Sutton United^[a]	42	12	4	5	52	24	7	7	7	29	27	+30	68
8	Runcorn	42	12	7	2	45	23	6	6	9	26	35	+13	67
9	Telford United	42	12	5	4	41	23	6	5	10	28	36	+10	64
10	Bath City	42	9	5	7	35	31	8	7	6	28	31	+1	63
11	Cheltenham Town	42	11	4	6	43	25	5	9	7	21	25	+14	61
12	Kidderminster Harriers	42	10	4	7	46	34	7	0	14	31	47	−4	55	FA Trophy winners
13	Stafford Rangers	42	9	5	7	32	25	5	6	10	26	35	−2	53
14	Weymouth	42	10	5	6	43	33	3	7	11	25	44	−9	51
15	Dagenham	42	10	4	7	32	29	4	3	14	24	43	−16	49
16	Kettering Town	42	8	5	8	35	28	4	6	11	19	38	−12	47	Conference League Cup winners
17	Northwich Victoria	42	6	7	8	25	23	4	7	10	28	46	−16	44
18	Nuneaton Borough	42	6	8	7	23	28	4	6	11	25	45	−25	44	Relegated to Southern League^[b]
19	Wealdstone	42	7	5	9	26	34	4	5	12	24	36	−20	43
20	Welling United^[a]	42	8	4	9	39	38	2	6	13	22	46	−23	40
21	Frickley Athletic	42	5	7	9	28	37	2	4	15	19	45	−35	32	Relegated to Northern Premier League
22	Gateshead^[a]	42	3	7	11	26	45	3	6	12	22	50	−47	31	Relegated to Northern Premier League

Source: ^[1]
Notes:

^ ^a ^b ^c New club in the Conference
^ Nuneaton Borough were relegated due to financial irregularities.

Results

Home \ Away	ALT	BAR	BAT	BOS	CHL	DAG	ENF	FRK	GAT	KET	KID	MDS	NOR	NUN	RUN	SCA	STA	SUT	TEL	WEA	WEL	WEY
Altrincham		2–0	1–1	3–1	2–0	0–2	0–1	1–1	1–1	4–1	3–1	4–0	1–1	2–2	0–0	1–0	2–0	2–1	2–1	1–2	1–1	2–1
Barnet	1–0		2–1	5–1	0–1	1–0	1–0	3–0	3–1	1–2	5–2	3–1	4–0	4–1	3–0	2–2	1–2	1–2	2–2	2–1	1–1	2–2
Bath City	1–1	0–1		4–2	0–0	2–0	1–3	4–2	1–1	1–2	3–2	1–0	1–1	2–3	1–2	0–3	4–2	1–3	3–1	2–0	1–1	2–1
Boston United	4–2	0–3	1–2		1–1	1–0	5–1	2–2	6–0	2–1	2–1	0–3	0–1	2–1	2–0	1–3	2–0	0–0	2–3	2–0	4–3	1–1
Cheltenham Town	1–1	1–2	1–1	1–3		6–1	2–0	2–0	4–2	3–1	1–2	2–0	5–2	1–1	1–1	2–3	2–1	1–2	3–1	0–1	2–0	2–0
Dagenham	3–1	1–3	1–2	3–2	1–1		0–3	0–1	0–0	1–2	3–1	0–2	3–3	3–1	3–2	0–2	1–0	2–1	3–1	1–0	1–1	2–0
Enfield	0–2	0–3	1–0	2–3	2–2	1–0		0–0	1–1	0–0	3–0	0–1	1–2	3–1	5–0	0–1	2–0	0–0	3–1	4–2	0–2	4–0
Frickley Athletic	2–2	0–3	2–2	0–1	0–2	1–3	1–4		3–1	0–1	2–2	0–2	1–1	1–1	0–2	0–2	2–1	1–1	4–2	3–1	3–1	2–2
Gateshead	1–3	1–5	1–2	1–3	1–1	3–2	1–2	2–0		1–1	2–4	1–4	1–1	3–2	1–3	0–1	2–2	1–1	0–2	1–1	1–1	1–4
Kettering Town	0–2	1–1	2–0	1–2	0–0	3–1	2–0	1–2	5–1		0–2	1–2	1–0	2–2	1–1	1–2	2–2	1–4	3–1	0–2	5–1	3–0
Kidderminster Harriers	3–0	0–3	2–4	1–2	5–1	4–2	3–4	4–1	3–1	2–1		2–2	1–2	3–0	3–2	0–1	1–1	0–0	0–4	5–2	2–0	1–1
Maidstone United	3–0	1–0	0–0	2–2	1–1	2–1	0–2	1–0	3–0	3–0	5–0		5–2	2–0	3–2	2–1	2–3	0–1	0–0	1–0	4–0	3–1
Northwich Victoria	1–1	1–2	1–1	4–0	1–0	2–3	2–0	1–1	1–2	0–0	1–2	1–1		1–2	1–2	0–1	1–1	0–1	1–0	2–1	2–1	1–1
Nuneaton Borough	2–2	1–3	1–0	1–5	0–0	3–3	2–0	2–1	1–1	0–0	1–2	2–0	0–1		1–0	3–0	0–0	1–1	0–2	1–1	1–2	0–4
Runcorn	1–1	1–1	0–1	3–1	1–0	4–0	1–1	1–0	4–0	1–0	4–3	3–2	7–3	1–1		0–2	3–1	3–2	3–0	1–1	2–2	1–1
Scarborough	2–2	0–0	1–1	0–0	1–3	2–1	1–1	4–2	3–2	1–0	2–1	0–0	2–1	1–0	1–2		2–0	2–1	0–0	2–1	2–0	2–1
Stafford Rangers	2–3	0–3	0–1	0–1	0–1	1–1	0–3	2–0	1–0	2–2	4–1	2–3	4–1	3–1	2–0	0–0		4–2	1–1	1–0	3–1	0–0
Sutton United	2–3	3–1	7–2	3–1	0–0	1–0	0–1	3–0	3–0	8–0	3–1	3–1	2–1	2–3	1–1	0–2	3–0		2–2	2–2	2–0	2–3
Telford United	4–0	0–1	4–2	5–2	3–1	0–2	2–1	4–1	2–1	2–0	2–1	1–1	1–0	1–1	2–2	0–0	0–0	0–2		1–3	2–1	5–1
Wealdstone	0–2	0–0	1–2	0–4	1–0	2–2	0–3	2–1	2–2	2–1	0–3	0–0	1–1	6–0	0–3	1–3	0–3	2–1	0–1		3–1	3–1
Welling United	0–1	1–1	1–1	4–2	1–3	1–0	2–3	3–2	3–4	0–3	1–0	2–2	3–2	1–2	3–0	1–3	2–4	3–1	1–3	1–1		5–0
Weymouth	2–2	3–3	1–2	3–4	4–3	3–0	0–1	3–2	0–1	2–0	2–1	4–1	2–2	1–0	1–1	0–1	1–3	2–2	3–0	3–2	3–2

Updated to match(es) played on unknown. Source: Peter Dunk (ed.), Rothmans Football Yearbook 1987–88. Queen Anne Press, Macdonald Futura Publishers, London & Sydney, 1987.^[1]
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Kidderminster Harriers

Locations of the Football Conference teams 1986–1987

Locations of the Football Conference teams 1986–1987

Topscorers

Rank	Player	Club	League	FA Cup	FA Trophy	League Cup	Total^[1]
1	Kim Casey	Kidderminster Harriers	38	4	2	0	44
2	Mick Carter	Runcorn	30	2	6	3	41
3	Steve Butler	Maidstone United	24	5	3	2	34
4	Gary Abbott	Welling United	23	2	3	0	28
=	Chris Cook	Boston United	23	0	2	2	27
=	Ken McKenna	Telford United	23	1	0	0	24
7	Nicky Evans	Barnet	22	0	4	0	26
=	Chris Townsend	Cheltenham Town	22	1	0	0	23
9	Mike Doherty	Weymouth	16	0	1	1	18
=	Paul Bodin	Bath City	16	2	2	1	21
=	Stewart Mell	Scarborough	16	0	2	0	18
=	John Timmons	Altrincham	16	0	0	1	17

Promotion and relegation

Promoted

Scarborough (to the Football League Fourth Division)
Fisher Athletic (from the Isthmian League)
Macclesfield Town (from the Northern Premier League)
Wycombe Wanderers (from the Southern Premier League)

Relegated

Lincoln City (from the Football League Fourth Division)
Frickley Athletic (to the Northern Premier League)
Gateshead (to the Northern Premier League)
Nuneaton Borough (to the Southern Premier League)

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Peter Dunk (ed.), Rothmans Football Yearbook 1987–88. Queen Anne Press, Macdonald & Co., London & Sydney, 1987.

External links

1986–87 Conference National Results

[table_note_SUT0.73108514711777-2] New club in the Conference

[table_note_res_R10.73108514711777-3] Nuneaton Borough were relegated due to financial irregularities.

[Rothmans-1] Peter Dunk (ed.), Rothmans Football Yearbook 1987–88. Queen Anne Press, Macdonald & Co., London & Sydney, 1987.

[1]

[a]

[b]