2008–09 Conference League Cup

The Conference League Cup 2008–09, known as the Setanta Shield 2008–09 for sponsorship reasons, is the second season of the Conference League Cup cup competition after its resurrection by Conference sponsors Blue Square and competition sponsors Setanta. With the entrance of all Conference teams from every division, there will be 68 entries into the tournament. The total prize money is £200,000. Teams in the Conference's two regional divisions enter in the first round, are joined by the six lowest ranked Conference National teams in the second with the competition completed by the final eighteen clubs for the third round.

Calendar

Round	Date	Matches	Clubs	New entries this round	Prize money
First Round	8 September 2008	22	68 → 46	44	£2,000
Second Round	6 October 2008	14	46 → 32	6	£3,000
Third Round	4 November 2008	16	32 → 16	18	£3,500
Fourth Round	2 December 2008	8	16 → 8	none	£4,500
Quarter-finals	12 January 2009	4	8 → 4	none	£7,000
Semi-finals	2009	2	4 → 2	none	£10,000
Final	2009	1	2 → 1	none	Winner: £16,000; Loser: £8,000

First round

The First Round was contested by all 44 teams from the Northern and Southern Divisions, which were divided into a Northern and Southern section. Matches were played in the week commencing 8 September 2008, with the exceptions of the Alfreton Town versus Stafford Rangers and Redditch United versus Solihull Moors games, which were played on 16 September and 23 September respectively, after both fixtures were postponed due to waterlogged pitches.

Northern Section Tie no Home team Score Away team Attendance 1 Hyde United 1 – 2 Vauxhall Motors 97 2 Droylsden 1 – 2 Gateshead 190 3 Stalybridge Celtic 1 – 4 Southport 231 4 Harrogate Town 1 – 1 Fleetwood Town 174 Fleetwood won 5–4 on penalties 5 Farsley Celtic 3 – 1 Workington 101 6 Burscough 1 – 4 Blyth Spartans 160 7 Hucknall Town 1 – 3 Hinckley United 192 8 A.F.C. Telford United 3 – 2 Gainsborough Trinity 652 9 Redditch United 0 – 1 Solihull Moors 157 10 Alfreton Town 2 – 3 Stafford Rangers 201 11 King's Lynn 1 – 2 Tamworth 510

Southern Section Tie no Home team Score Away team Attendance 12 Dorchester Town 4 – 5 Newport County 178 13 Team Bath 1 – 2 Bath City 14 Basingstoke Town 1 – 3 Fisher Athletic 139 15 Maidenhead United 1 – 2 Havant & Waterlooville 171 16 Bognor Regis Town 2 – 0 Worcester City 168 17 Eastleigh 4 – 4 Weston-super-Mare 173 Eastleigh won 5–4 on penalties 18 St. Albans City 0 – 1 Hayes and Yeading 165 19 Thurrock 2 – 0 Welling United 20 Chelmsford City 1 – 0 A.F.C. Wimbledon 575 21 Bishop's Stortford 2 – 1 Bromley 201 22 Braintree Town 3 – 0 Hampton & Richmond Borough 127

Second round

The Second Round was contested by the remaining 22 teams from the Northern and Southern Divisions and the six lowest ranking teams from Conference National. It was divided into a Northern and Southern section. Matches will be played in the week commencing 6 October 2008.

Northern Section Tie no Home team Score Away team Attendance 1 Blyth Spartans 1 – 2 Gateshead 632 2 Barrow 3 – 2 Fleetwood Town 618 3 Hinckley United 2 – 1 Tamworth 267 4 A.F.C. Telford United 2 – 1 Solihull Moors 692 5 Vauxhall Motors 0 – 3 Southport 163 6 Altrincham 1 – 1 Farsley Celtic 259 Altrincham won 4–2 on penalties 7 Stafford Rangers 3 – 1 Northwich Victoria 327

Southern Section Tie no Home team Score Away team Attendance 8 Bath City 4 – 1 Newport County 241 9 Lewes 0 – 2 Bognor Regis Town 222 10 Kettering Town 4 – 2 Bishop's Stortford 450 11 Fisher Athletic 2 – 3 Eastbourne Borough 35 12 Eastleigh 2 – 3 Havant & Waterlooville 489 13 Chelmsford City 3 – 1 Braintree Town 474 14 Thurrock 3 – 3 Hayes and Yeading Thurrock won 5–4 on penalties

Third round

The Third Round was contested by the remaining 14 teams from the previous fixtures with the addition of the 18 highest ranked teams from the Conference National. Unlike previous rounds, the draw was not officially divided into a Northern and Southern section although some geographical grouping occurred in the draw. Matches will be played in the week commencing 3 November 2008.

Tie no Home team Score Away team Attendance 1 Barrow 3 – 1 Gateshead F.C 551 2 York City 1 – 1 Mansfield Town 608 York won 4–2 on penalties 3 Forest Green Rovers 2 – 1 Oxford United 383 4 Altrincham 1 – 2 Wrexham 537 5 Stafford Rangers 1 – 2 Southport 261 6 Bath City 0 – 1 Salisbury City 230 7 Weymouth 0 – 3 Torquay United 621 8 Woking 3 – 0 Bognor Regis Town 480 9 Crawley Town 3 – 0 Havant & Waterlooville 239 10 Eastbourne Borough 1 – 3 Ebbsfleet United 300 11 Hinckley United 2 – 1 Histon 202 12 Rushden & Diamonds 0 – 3 Stevenage Borough 430 13 A.F.C. Telford United 4 – 3 Cambridge United 941 14 Kettering Town 4 – 1 Thurrock 438 15 Grays Athletic 2 - 4 Chelmsford City 262 16 Burton Albion 3 – 2 Kidderminster Harriers 554

Fourth round

The Fourth Round was contested by the remaining 16 teams from across the three divisions. Unlike the previous round the draw was officially divided into a Northern and Southern section. Matches will be played in the week commencing 2 December 2008.

Northern Section Tie no Home team Score Away team Attendance 1 A.F.C. Telford United 3 - 0 Burton Albion 875 2 Barrow 3 - 1 York City 596 3 Hinckley United 2 - 3 (aet) Kettering Town 270 4 Wrexham 1 - 2 (aet) Southport 1,023

Southern Section Tie no Home team Score Away team Attendance 1 Crawley Town 2 - 1 Chelmsford City 304 2 Ebbsfleet United 3 - 0 Stevenage Borough 286 3 Forest Green Rovers 1 - 0 Torquay United 421 4 Salisbury City 0 - 3 Woking 297

Quarter-Finals

The draw for the quarter-finals was held on 9 December 2008. Ties were to be played w/c January 12, 2009 but due to postponents two games were played in January, February and March 2009

Northern Section Tie no Home team Score Away team Attendance 1 A.F.C. Telford United 3 - 2 (aet) Kettering Town 874 2 Barrow 3 - 1 Southport 678

Southern Section Tie no Home team Score Away team Attendance 1 Crawley Town 1 - 2 Ebbsfleet United 844 2 Woking 2 - 2 Forest Green Rovers 499 Forest Green won 5-4 on penalties

Semi-Finals

Due to the weather disrupted winter, the semi-finals were delayed and eventually played on 26 March 2009.

Northern Section Tie no Home team Score Away team Attendance 1 Barrow 0-1 AFC Telford United 2,109

Southern Section Tie no Home team Score Away team Attendance 1 Ebbsfleet United 0-1 Forest Green Rovers 431

Final

The final was won by AFC Telford United on the 9th of April 2009 at The New Lawn, the home of the defeated Forest Green Rovers. Despite Forest Green having the majority of the game AFC Telford won the game on penalty kicks when Forest Green failed to convert any of their three penalty kicks.

Tie no Home team Score Away team Attendance 1 Forest Green Rovers 0–0 AFC Telford United 2,323 Telford United win 3–0 on penalties