1985–86 Alliance Premier League

Alliance Premier League

Season	1985–86
Champions	Enfield (2nd Alliance Premier League title)
Promoted to the Football League	None
FA Trophy winners	Altrincham
Relegated to Level 6	Barrow, Dartford, Wycombe Wanderers
Promoted for the next season	Gateshead, Sutton, Welling United
Matches	462
Goals	1,377 (2.98 per match)
Top goalscorer	Kim Casey (Kidderminster Harriers), 36
Biggest home win	Kidderminster Harriers – Wycombe Wanderers 8–2; Bath City – Barrow 6–0
Biggest away win	Cheltenham Town – Kidderminster Harriers 2–6; Barrow – Runcorn 0–4
Highest scoring	Altrincham – Nuneaton Borough 7–4
Longest winning run	?
Longest unbeaten run	?
Longest losing run	?
Highest attendance	?
Lowest attendance	?
Average attendance	?
← 1984–85 Football Conference 1986–87 →

The Alliance Premier League season of 1985–86 (known as the Gola League 1985–86 for sponsorship reasons) was the seventh season of the Alliance Premier League. This was the first year where a team from the Isthmian League had been promoted to the APL, and this was the last season of the league under this name - starting with the 1986–87 season, the league would be renamed to the Football Conference.

New teams in the league this season

• Cheltenham Town (promoted 1984–85)
• Stafford Rangers (promoted 1984–85)
• Wycombe Wanderers (promoted 1984-85)

Final league table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Enfield (C)	42	27	10	5	94	47	+47	76
2	Frickley Athletic	42	25	10	7	78	50	+28	69
3	Kidderminster Harriers	42	24	7	11	99	62	+37	67
4	Altrincham	42	22	11	9	70	49	+21	63
5	Weymouth	42	19	15	8	75	60	+15	61
6	Runcorn	42	19	14	9	70	44	+26	60
7	Stafford Rangers	42	19	13	10	61	54	+7	60
8	Telford United	42	18	10	14	68	66	+2	51
9	Kettering Town	42	15	15	12	55	53	+2	49
10	Wealdstone	42	16	9	17	57	56	+1	47
11	Cheltenham Town	42	16	11	15	69	69	0	46
12	Bath City	42	13	11	18	53	54	−1	45
13	Boston United	42	16	7	19	66	76	−10	44
14	Barnet	42	13	11	18	56	60	−4	41
15	Scarborough	42	13	11	18	54	66	−12	40
16	Northwich Victoria	42	10	12	20	42	54	−12	37
17	Maidstone United	42	9	16	17	57	66	−9	36
18	Nuneaton Borough	42	13	5	24	58	73	−15	36
19	Dagenham	42	10	12	20	48	66	−18	36
20	Wycombe Wanderers (R)	42	10	13	19	55	84	−29	36	Relegation to the Isthmian League Premier Division
21	Dartford (R)	42	8	9	25	51	82	−31	26	Relegation to the Southern League Premier Division
22	Barrow (R)	42	7	8	27	41	86	−45	24	Relegation to the Northern Premier League

Source:
Rules for classification: 2 points for a home win, 3 points for an away win, 1 point for a draw.
(C) Champions; (R) Relegated

Results

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

Updated to match(es) played on unknown. Source: Peter Dunk (ed.), Rothmans Football Yearbook 1986–87. Queen Anne Press, Macdonald & Co., London & Sydney, 1986.
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Altrincham

Barnet

Barrow

Bath City

Boston United

Cheltenham

Dagenham

Dartford

Enfield

Frickley

Kettering Town

Kidderminster Harriers

Maidstone

Northwich Victoria

Nuneaton

Runcorn

Scarborough

Stafford

Telford United

Wealdstone

Weymouth

Wycombe

Locations of the Alliance Premier League teams 1985–1986

Barnet

Dagenham

Dartford

Enfield

Wealdstone

Locations of the Alliance Premier League 1985–1986 London teams

Top scorers

Source:

Rank	Player	Club	League	FA Cup	FA Trophy	League Cup	Total
1	Kim Casey	Kidderminster Harriers	36
2	Carl Richards	Enfield	28
3	Mike Doherty	Weymouth	25
4	Mick Carter	Runcorn	22
5	Paul Davies	Kidderminster Harriers	21
6	Nicky Evans	Barnet	20
=	Gary Hooley	Frickley Athletic / Scarborough	20
8	Ken McKenna	Telford United	18
=	Paul Wilson	Frickley Athletic	18
10	Graham Bennett	Stafford Rangers	17
11	Mark Boyland	Cheltenham Town	16
=	Dave Gilbert	Boston United	16
13	Colin Cowperthwaite	Barrow	15
=	Frank Murphy	Nuneaton Borough	15
15	Tony Burman	Dartford	14
=	David Singleton	Bath City	14
=	Tim Smithers	Nuneaton Borough	14
=	Chris Townsend	Cheltenham Town	14
19	Tony Agana	Weymouth	13
=	Noel Ashford	Enfield	13
21	Phil Derbyshire	Stafford Rangers	12
22	Bob Mountain	Stafford Rangers	11
23	Stephen Claridge	Weymouth	10

Promotion and relegation

Promoted

• Gateshead (from the Northern Premier League)
• Sutton (from the Isthmian League)
• Welling United (from the Southern Premier League)

Relegated

• Wycombe Wanderers (to the Isthmian League)
• Dartford (to the Southern Premier League)
• Barrow (to the Northern Premier League)

Election to the Football League

As winners of the Alliance Premier League, Enfield won the right to apply for election to the Football League to replace one of the four bottom sides in the 1985–86 Football League Fourth Division. The vote went as follows:

Club	Final Position	Votes
Exeter City	21st (Fourth Division)	64
Preston North End	23rd (Fourth Division)	62.5
Cambridge United	22nd (Fourth Division)	61
Torquay United	24th (Fourth Division)	61
Enfield	1st (Alliance Premier League)	7.5

As a result Enfield did not gain membership of the Football League. This was the final season in which the team who won the Conference National had to apply for election to the Football League, and from the 1986–87 season onward the winning team was automatically promoted, on the provision that they met the various conditions that the Football League set for all its members.

External links

• 1985–86 Conference National Results
• Re-election Results – The Division Four final league table, including the results of the re-election vote.