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. This division today continues as Nationwide Conference.

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 were relegated.

Changes since the previous season

• Accrington Stanley (promoted 2002–03)
• Exeter City (relegated from the Football League 2002–03)
• Shrewsbury Town (relegated from the Football League 2002–03)
• Tamworth (promoted 2002–03)

Overview

All teams participating were professional, except for Aldershot Town, who were part-timers. In fact, Aldershot’s performance exceeded everyone’s expectations.

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, because the winners and runners-up of the Unibond League were unqualified 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 August 9, 2003, and ended on April 24, 2004.

Final league table^{[1] [2]}

Conference National

Season	2003–04 [1] [3]
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	1343 (2.91 per match)
Top goalscorer	Daryl Clare (Chester City), 29
Biggest home win	Hereford – Halifax 7–1 (25 Nov 2003) Gravesend & Northfleet – Morecambe 6–0 (28 Feb 2004)
Biggest away win	Dagenham & Redbridge – Hereford 0–9 (Feb 27, 2004)
Highest scoring	Dagenham & Redbridge – Hereford 0–9 (Feb 27, 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 Apr 2003)
Average attendance	1,905 (Conference record, + 18% compared to the previous season)
← 2002–03 2004–05 →

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

Pos	Team	Pld		W	D	L	F	A		W	D	L	F	A		F	A	GD		Pts	Notes
1	Chester City	42		16	4	1	45	18		11	7	3	40	16		85	34	+51		92
2	Hereford United	42		14	3	4	42	20		14	4	3	61	24		103	44	+ 59		91
3	Shrewsbury Town	42		13	6	2	38	14		7	8	6	29	28		67	42	+ 25		74
4	Barnet	42		11	6	4	30	17		8	8	5	30	29		60	46	+ 14		71
5	Aldershot Town	42		12	6	3	40	24		8	4	9	40	43		80	67	+ 13		70
6	Exeter City	42		10	7	4	33	24		9	5	7	38	33		71	57	+ 14		69
7	Morecambe	42		14	4	3	43	25		6	3	12	23	41		66	66	± 0		67
8	Stevenage Borough	42		10	5	6	29	22		8	4	9	29	30		58	52	+ 6		63
9	Woking	42		10	9	2	40	23		5	7	9	25	29		65	52	+ 13		61
10	Accrington Stanley	42		13	3	5	46	31		2	10	9	22	30		68	61	+ 7		58
11	Gravesend & Northfleet	42		7	6	8	34	35		7	9	5	35	31		69	66	+ 3		57
12	Telford United	42		10	3	8	28	28		5	7	9	21	23		49	51	– 2		55	[notes 1]
13	Dagenham & Redbridge	42		8	3	10	30	34		7	6	8	29	30		59	64	– 5		54
14	Burton Albion	42		7	4	10	30	29		8	3	10	27	30		57	59	– 2		51	[notes 2]
15	Scarborough	42		8	9	4	32	25		4	6	11	19	29		51	54	– 3		51
16	Margate	42		8	2	11	30	32		6	7	8	26	32		56	64	– 8		51	[notes 3]
17	Tamworth	42		9	6	6	32	30		4	4	13	17	38		49	68	– 19		49
18	Forest Green Rovers	42		6	8	7	32	36		6	4	11	26	44		58	80	– 22		48
19	Halifax Town	42		9	4	8	28	26		3	4	14	15	39		43	65	– 22		44
20	Farnborough Town	42		7	6	8	31	34		3	3	15	22	40		53	74	– 21		39
21	Leigh RMI	42		4	6	11	26	44		3	2	16	20	53		46	97	– 51		29
22	Northwich Victoria	42		2	8	11	15	38		2	3	16	15	42		30	80	– 50		23

• Pld = Matches played; W = Matches won; D = Matches drawn; L = Matches lost; F = Goals for; A = Goals against; GD = Goal difference; Pts = Points

• Points scored: 3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw.

1. ^ Following this season Telford United folded.
2. ^ Burton Albion deducted 1 point for breech of rules.
3. ^ Margate were relegated due to ground concerns. They were place in Conference South.

Key
	Football Conference Champions, promoted to League Two
	Promoted to League Two through play-offs
	Participated in play-offs
	FA Trophy winners, Hednesford Town (Southern Football League Premier Division)
	Conference League Cup winners, competition not held
	Relegated from the The Football League, see also Shrewsbury Town
	New club in the Conference; see also Aldershot Town
	Relegated to Conference South
	Folded

Football Conference Results^[4]

Home \ Away1

ACC

ALD

BRN

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

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

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

Stevenage Borough

2–1

0–1

Tamworth

1–1

3–3

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

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

Source: [2] Soccerbase; Sky Sports Football Yearbook 2004–2003
¹The home team is listed in the left-hand column.
Colours: 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 determine the second team that will be promoted to Football League Two. The teams placed second through fifth qualify for the play-offs. The semi-finals are played in a two-leg, home and away format, while the final is 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)

Topscorers in Order of League Goals^[1]

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

References

1. ^ ^{a b c d} Sky Sports Football Yearbook 2004–2005. Glenda Rollin & Jack Rollin (eds.), Headline, 2004.
2. ^ "England 2003–04". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. http://www.rsssf.com/engpaul/FLA/2003-04.html. Retrieved 18 Nov 2010. 
3. ^ Soccerbase
4. ^ [1] Soccerbase

External links

• Official Football Conference website