1989–90 Football Conference

Football Conference
Season	1989–90
Champions	Darlington (1st Football Conference title)
Promoted to the Football League	Darlington
Conference League Cup winners	Yeovil Town
FA Trophy winners	Barrow
Relegated to; Level 6	Chorley,; Enfield,; Farnborough Town
Matches played	462
Goals scored	1,317 (2.85 per match)
Top goalscorer	Robbie Cooke (Kettering Town), 28
Biggest home win	Runcorn – Enfield 9–0 (3 March 1990)
Biggest away win	Barrow – 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 scoring	Runcorn – Enfield 9–0 (3 March 1990);; Farnborough Town – Runcorn 6–3 (11 November 1989)
Longest winning run	Barnet, 8 matches
Longest unbeaten run	Darlington, 13 matches
Longest losing run	Northwich Victoria, 6 matches
Highest attendance	Barnet v Darlington, 5,880 (31 March 1990)
Lowest attendance	?
Average attendance	1,429 (+ 9% from previous season)
	← 1988–89 1990–91 →

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

Barrow (promoted 1988–89)
Darlington (relegated from the Football League 1988–89)
Farnborough Town (promoted 1988–89)
Merthyr Tydfil (promoted 1988–89)

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:

^ ^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.

Kidderminster Harriers

Locations of the Football Conference teams 1989–1990