Season 1997-98

After helping the club avoid relegation in 1996/97, Brian Talbot was confirmed as Head Coach in time for the 1997/98 campaign.

The influx of new players such as Adrian Foster and Paul Underwood gave optimism for 1997/98 but this was soon tempered with only one point being gained from the first four matches. Defeats at the first stages of both the Spalding and FA Cups followed before replacements were introduced such as Darren Bradshaw and Mark Smith. This led to a successful run which elevated the side to 2nd place. However, the legacy of the poor start to the season and eventual lack of cover for injuries and suspensions brought an eventual fourth place finish behind Halifax Town. Darren Collins was once again the top scorer for the club, with 29 league goals.

The game at home to Gateshead on 30th August 1997 was the 300th in the Diamonds History – see here for a reflection on that milestone.

See below for a match summary as well as links to match reports. The final league table for the season can be seen here.

See here for a detailed summary of all the games during the season, including team-line up for each game and match timings.

Date	V	Lge	Opponent	Result	Scorers	Att
Sat 16/08/97	H	Conf	Northwich Vic	Lost 0-1	–	2302
Wed 20/08/97	A	Conf	Farnborough Tn	Lost 0-2	–	905
Sat 23/08/97	A	Conf	Leek Town	Lost 0-2	–	809
Mon 25/08/97	H	Conf	Hednesford Town	Drew 1-1	Collins	2468
Sat 30/08/97	H	Conf	Gateshead	Won 3-2	Mison, Ndah, Collins	2211
Tue 02/09/97	A	Conf	Slough Town	Won 2-1	Collins, Mison	872
Sat 06/09/97	A	Conf	Cheltenham Town	Lost 0-2	–	1612
Sat 13/09/97	H	Conf	Farnborough Tn	Drew 5-5	Foster/4, Underwood (V)	2051
Sat 20/09/97	A	Conf	Yeovil Town	Won 2-1	Collins, Hackett	2317
Sat 27/09/97	A	Conf	Southport	Lost 2-3	Foster, Rawle	1116
Sat 04/10/97	H	Conf	Woking	Won 2-1	Mison, Foster	2837
Tue 07/10/97	A	SC1	Hayes	Lost 0-2	–	438
Sat 11/10/97	H	Conf	Hereford Utd	Won 1-0	Collins	2728
Sat 18/10/97	A	Conf	Kidderminster H	Won 2-1	Mison, Cramman	2210
Sat 25/10/97	H	FAC4q	Boreham Wood	Drew 1-1	Butterworth	2107
Tue 28/10/97	A	FAC4qr	Boreham Wood	Lost 0-1 AET	–	704
Sat 01/11/97	H	Conf	Slough Town	Lost 0-1	–	2193
Sat 08/11/97	A	Conf	Welling Utd	Won 1-0	Underwood	833
Sat 15/11/97	H	Conf	Kidderminster H	Won 4-1	Barnwell/3, Collins	2234
Tue 18/11/97	A	NHSCQF	Brackley Town	Won 3-1	Collins/3	245
Sat 22/11/97	A	Conf	Morecambe	Lost 1-3	Capone	1449
Tue 25/11/97	H	Conf	Kettering Town	Won 1-0	Collins	3866
Sat 29/11/97	H	Conf	Hayes	Lost 1-3	og	2158
Sat 06/12/97	A	Conf	Northwich Vic	Won 4-2	og, Capone, Collins/2	942
Sat 13/12/97	H	Conf	Dover Athletic	Won 4-1	Collins/2, West/2	2284
Sat 20/12/97	A	Conf	Hayes	Won 2-1	Collins, Hackett	679
Fri 26/12/97	H	Conf	Stevenage Boro	Won 2-0	West, Capone	3527
Thu 01/01/98	A	Conf	Stevenage Boro	Lost 1-2	Collins	3107
Sat 10/01/98	H	FAT1	Farnborough Tn	Won 3-2	Cramman, Collins/2	2164
Sat 17/01/98	H	Conf	Southport	Won 1-0	Collins	2477
Sat 24/01/98	A	Conf	Dover Athletic	Won 3-0	Underwood, Alford/2	1280
Tue 27/01/98	H	NHSCSF	Raunds Town	Lost 0-1	–	868
Sat 31/01/98	A	FAT2	Cheltenham Town	Lost 1-3	Collins	2058
Sat 07/02/98	H	Conf	Halifax Town	Won 4-0	Collins/2, Butterworth,   Underwood (V)	3675
Sat 14/02/98	A	Conf	Gateshead	Lost 1-2	Collins	616
Sat 21/02/98	A	Conf	Kettering Town	Won 4-0	Mison, Underwood, West/2 (V)	4016
Sat 28/02/98	H	Conf	Stalybridge Ctc	Won 3-0	Mison, Collins, Foster	2470
Sat 07/03/98	H	Conf	Cheltenham Town	Won 4-1	Cramman, Collins, Foster, Cooper	3857
Sat 14/03/98	A	Conf	Woking	Won 2-0	Mison, Foster	3930
Sat 21/03/98	A	Conf	Halifax Town	Lost 0-2	–	3951
Mon 23/03/98	A	Conf	Hednesford Town	Won 1-0	Hamsher	1342
Sat 28/03/98	H	Conf	Morecambe	Drew 3-3	Collins/2, Underwood	2758
Sat 04/04/98	A	Conf	Telford Utd	Lost 2-4	Collins, Cooper	856
Mon 13/04/98	A	Conf	Stalybridge Ctc	Won 4-2	Collins/3, Cooper	952
Sat 18/04/98	H	Conf	Leek Town	Lost 0-1	–	2064
Tue 21/04/98	H	Conf	Yeovil Town	Drew 2-2	Collins, Mehew	1784
Sat 25/04/98	A	Conf	Hereford Utd	Drew 1-1	Collins	3055
Tue 28/04/98	H	Conf	Welling Utd	Lost 0-1	–	1459
Sat 02/05/98	H	Conf	Telford Utd	Won 3-2	Collins/2, West	2197

Note – those games with a (P) in the scorers column will have match photos in the report, and those with a (V) will have a link to video highlights of the game.