Looking Back at….Season 1999/2000

The end of the 1990s and start of the new millennium.

Boston United had been transferred over from the Northern Premier League to the Southern League Premier Division at the start of the 1998/99 season.

They finished second in their first campaign, but it was as a distant runner up to Nuneaton Borough, who finished a whopping 23 points clear of the Pilgrims.

Boston, under current Gillingham boss Steve Evans (pictured), were determined, however, to begin the new millennium in the Football Conference and started as they meant to go on with a 6-0 thrashing of Salisbury City at York Street with Micky Nuttell bagging a brace.

Four more straight wins and only two defeats in their 21 matches up to Christmas set Boston on a course for the title.

By the turn of the year, the Pilgrims were five points clear at the top of the table but had completed significantly more games than the chasing pack.

Margate, Bath City, Burton Albion and Tamworth led the challengers and were all in sight of the Premier Division leaders.

Bath, in particular, were a serious threat. Although the Romans, managed by former Wales international Paul Bodin, were seven points behind as the 1990s turned into the 2000s, they had suffered only once defeat in seventeen games and they had five matches in hand on Boston.

Would the points in the bag be enough or the games in hand be crucial? It wasn`t until March 21st before the Bath challenge faltered when they suffered a 3-0 defeat by neighbours Clevedon Town.

That obviously had its effect on the Romans` players as they proceeded to lose their next three games and won only one of their remaining seven fixtures, so Burton Albion and Margate took full advantage.

Nigel Clough`s Brewers cemented second spot with eight wins in their final twelve games, and their final win, on the last day of the season against Bath, condemned Bodin`s side to fourth place.

Chris Kinnear`s Margate won their final four matches of the campaign to finish in third.

Poor runs in cup competitions in 1999/2000 ironically helped Boston`s title success in the end.

They were knocked out of the FA Cup at the Fourth Qualifying Round stage by Kingstonian, losing 3-0 at York Street, were beaten 1-0 at Leigh RMI in their only FA Trophy tie and suffered a 3-2 loss at lower league Wisbech Town in the League Cup.

Mark Rawle top-scored for the Pilgrims with 22 but the goals were shared about and they had eighteen different scorers, including Adie Hayes, who hit goal number 100 on the final day of the season – a 4-3 loss at Dorchester Town, who needed that win to stay up.

Grantham Town, Atherstone Town and Rothwell Town were never far away from the bottom of the table – the Gingerbreads going ten games without securing a point at the start of the season and thirteen games before their first win.

And by Christmas, Gloucester City were dropping down the table like a stone to join them.

Dorchester also found themselves in grave danger towards the end of the season and, although rarely featuring in the top half of the table, a run of eleven matches without a win between January and March started alarm bells ringing.

Grantham, meanwhile, were enjoying a run of seven wins in eight games, and a 1-0 victory in Dorset on April 8th was followed seven days later by a 6-0 win against Atherstone Town which took them out of the bottom four at the expense of Dorchester.

But, despite a final day victory over Crawley Town, Grantham lost the battle against relegation on goal difference following that win by Dorchester against the champions and they went down with Atherstone, Rothwell and Gloucester, who just three seasons earlier, had missed out on the title and promotion to the Conference by a single point.

Tamworth`s Mark Haslam led the scoring charts with 35 goals, followed by James Taylor of Havant & Waterlooville on 32 and Burton Albion`s Christian Moore on 29.

Back in 1999/2000, the Southern League had a Premier Division and regional Eastern and Western Divisions.

Moor Green won their first six matches in the Western Division and dropped only two points out of the first 36 available.

Newcomers Tiverton Town, promoted from the Western League at the end of the 1998/99 season, quickly found their feet at the higher level and began with a five-match unbeaten run.

However, a string of injuries and five defeats in fairly quick succession saw Martyn Rogers` side slip down the reckonings.

But twenty wins in the following 28 matches restored Tivvy`s position towards the top of the table and extended their challenge for back-to-back promotions to the final day of the season when they ended up in fourth spot.

Dean Thomas` Hinckley United side were also in the race for honours until the final day.

After a consistent performance, during which The Knitters lost only on five occasions, Thomas will be wondering how promotion slipped through his grasp.

Moor Green lost only four matches, but after a superb opening to the campaign, a run of two wins from ten outings after the turn of the century lost them their previous vice-like grip on the leadership.

Like Hinckley, the Moors under long-serving Bob Faulkner, were held to draws on twelve occasions and this statistic alone only allowed Stafford Rangers to steam in and take the championship by three points.

Manager Ian Painter`s men won only two of their first seven matches and were lying in 15th place at the end of September, fourteen points behind Moor Green.

The ship, however, was quickly steadied and Rangers barged their way to the title on a run of 25 wins in 31 matches during which only two games were lost.

At the bottom of the Western Division, Yate Town endured a miserable campaign with the Bristol side winning only three matches throughout the whole campaign.

After an opening run of six defeats, one game was won before sixteen straight defeats followed, leaving the Bluebells marooned and they went down to the Hellenic League.

Bromsgrove Rovers and Shepshed Dynamo flirted with danger for long periods of the season before escaping.

It was to be a brief respite for fast-falling Rovers though as their relegation from the Conference to the Southern League Premier Division in 1996/97 was followed by relegation to the Western Division in 1998/99 and, after just beating the drop in 1999/2000, went down to the Midland Alliance in 2000/01.

Bromsgrove`s neighbours Stourbridge though went down to the Midland Alliance the year before, although it wasn`t until February that the Glassboys fell into the bottom two.

A battle for safety then ensued with Paget Rangers, who made themselves safe, thanks to a 2-0 win at Redditch United, leaving Racing Club Warwick one place above the trap door and Stourbridge relegated.

Champions Stafford Rangers` striker Richard Mitchell topped the scoring charts with 36 goals, 4 clear of Moor Green`s Derek Hall, with Bilston Town`s Scott Voice on 27 and Tiverton`s Kevin Nancekivell on 25.

In the Eastern Division, Fisher Athletic London (to give them their full title then), Chelmsford City, Stamford, Folkestone Invicta and Raunds Town all shared the leadership during the opening ten weeks of the season.

After a sustained spell at the top by Folkestone, Ashford Town took over, before Newport IoW broke clear in December and led the table into the new millennium.

Folkestone regained the lead by the middle of January and were joined by Fisher the following week and these two clubs shared the lead until the end of the season, despite challenges by Newport and Chelmsford.

By the end of the season, Newport had drifted fifteen points off the pace and Chelmsford were two further points behind but finishing third was the Isle of Wight side`s best performance in the Southern League.

Chelmsford finished fourth, despite securing the division`s best home win of the season – 10-1 against Bashley – and the best away victory – 6-1 at Raunds.

With the promotion places secured three weeks before the end of the season, Fisher, managed by former Gillingham defender Alan Walker and Folkestone, managed by the long-serving Neil Cugley, fought for the title.

But led by the prolific Steve Portway, who led the scoring charts with 28 goals, Fisher lifted the championship by a single point.

After losing their opening four games, Fleet Town found themselves bottom of the table for much of the campaign and, although a managerial change in the New Year briefly saw a change of fortunes, a valiant fight for survival was lost and they were relegated to the Wessex League.

Corby Town finished second-from-bottom but received a reprieve – and ironically it was thanks to Northamptonshire rivals Raunds` decision to resign from the league.

But the Shopmates changed their minds and they sought re-election, but unlike last year, there was no vacancy which would allow the league to accommodate their reinstatement and they returned to the United Counties League.

As mentioned above, Steve Portway was the division`s top marksman with 28 goals, followed by Tonbridge Angels` Dave Arter and Hastings Town`s Terry White on 25, with Chelmsford`s Ollie Berquez and Folkestone`s Nicky Dent bagging 23 apiece.