1997–98 Football League Trophy

The Football League Trophy 1997–98, known as the Auto Windscreens Shield 1997–98 for sponsorship reasons, was the 15th staging of the Football League Trophy, a knock-out competition for English football clubs in Second and Third Division. The winners were Grimsby Town and the runners-up were AFC Bournemouth.

1997–98 Football League Trophy

Auto Windscreens Shield
Tournament details
Country	England Wales
Teams	48
Final positions
Champions	Grimsby Town
Runner-up	AFC Bournemouth
Tournament statistics
Matches played	49

The competition began on 6 December 1997 and ended with the final on 19 April 1998 at the Wembley Stadium.

In the first round, there were two sections: North and South. In the following rounds each section gradually eliminates teams in knock-out fashion until each has a winning finalist. At this point, the two winning finalists face each other in the combined final for the honour of the trophy.

First round

Blackpool, Burnley, Macclesfield Town, Mansfield Town, Notts County, Rotherham United, Wrexham and York City from the North section all received byes.

Brentford, AFC Bournemouth, Brighton & Hove Albion, Bristol City, Exeter City, Luton Town, Swansea City and Torquay United from the South section all received byes.

Northern Section

Date	Home team	Score	Away team
6 December	Shrewsbury Town	1–2	Hartlepool United
9 December	Carlisle United	1 – 0	Oldham Athletic
9 December	Chesterfield	0–1	Grimsby Town
9 December	Doncaster Rovers	0–1	Rochdale
9 December	Hull City	2–1	Scarborough
9 December	Preston North End	3 – 2	Darlington
9 December	Scunthorpe United	2–1	Chester City
9 December	Wigan Athletic	2–0	Lincoln City

Southern Section

Date	Home team	Score	Away team
8 December	Bristol Rovers	1–0	Cambridge United
9 December	Barnet	1–2	Walsall
9 December	Cardiff City	0–2	Millwall
9 December	Fulham	1–0	Watford
9 December	Gillingham	0–1	Peterborough United
9 December	Leyton Orient	1–0	Colchester United
9 December	Northampton Town	1 – 1	Plymouth Argyle
Northampton Town won 5 – 3 on penalties
9 December	Southend United	0–1	Wycombe Wanderers

Second round

Northern Section

Date	Home team	Score	Away team
6 January	Blackpool	1 – 1	York City
Blackpool won 10 – 9 on penalties
6 January	Carlisle United	6–1	Rochdale
6 January	Grimsby Town	1–0	Hull City
6 January	Hartlepool United	1–2	Scunthorpe United
7 January	Mansfield Town	1–0	Wrexham
13 January	Macclesfield Town	0–1	Preston North End
20 January	Wigan Athletic	3–0	Rotherham United
27 January	Burnley	2–0	Notts County

Southern Section

Date	Home team	Score	Away team
6 January	AFC Bournemouth	2–0	Leyton Orient
6 January	Bristol City	1–0	Millwall
6 January	Exeter City	1–2	Bristol Rovers
6 January	Swansea City	1–2	Peterborough United
6 January	Walsall	5–0	Brighton & Hove Albion
13 January	Fulham	3–1	Wycombe Wanderers
13 January	Luton Town	2–1	Brentford
13 January	Northampton Town	5–1	Torquay United

Quarter-finals

Northern Section

Date	Home team	Score	Away team
27 January	Blackpool	1–0	Wigan Athletic
27 January	Preston North End	1–0	Mansfield Town
27 January	Scunthorpe United	0–2	Grimsby Town
3 February	Burnley	4–1	Carlisle United

Southern Section

Date	Home team	Score	Away team
27 January	AFC Bournemouth	1–0	Bristol City
27 January	Fulham	1–2	Luton Town
27 January	Peterborough United	2–1	Northampton Town
28 January	Bristol Rovers	0 – 1	Walsall

Area semi-finals

Northern Section

Date	Home team	Score	Away team
17 February	Burnley	1–0	Preston North End
17 February	Grimsby Town	1–0	Blackpool

Southern Section

Date	Home team	Score	Away team
17 February	AFC Bournemouth	1–0	Luton Town
17 February	Peterborough United	1–2	Walsall

Area finals

Northern Area final

10 March 1998

19:45

Grimsby Town	1–1	Burnley
Groves 78'		Payton 23'

Blundell Park, Cleethorpes

Attendance: 6,064

17 March 1998

19:45

Burnley	0–2	Grimsby Town
		Nogan 10' Donovan 57'

Turf Moor, Burnley

Attendance: 10,257

Grimsby Town beat Burnley 3–1 on aggregate.

Southern Area final

10 March 1998

19:45

Walsall	0–2	AFC Bournemouth
		Rolling 13' Beardsmore 30'

Bescot Stadium, Walsall

Attendance: 6,017

17 March 1998

19:45

AFC Bournemouth	2–3	Walsall
Evans 55' (o.g.) Rolling 82'		Thomas 47' Boli 53' Tholot 80'

Dean Court, Bournemouth

Attendance: 8,972

AFC Bournemouth beat Walsall 4–3 on aggregate.

Final

See also: 1998 Football League Trophy Final

19 April 1998

15:00 BST

AFC Bournemouth	1–2	Grimsby Town
Bailey 31'		Glass 75' (o.g.) Burnett 112'

Wembley Stadium, London

Attendance: 62,432

Referee: M.E. Pierce

AFC Bournemouth

Grimsby Town

GK 1 Jimmy Glass DF 2 Neil Young DF 3 Jamie Vincent DF 4 Eddie Howe DF 5 Ian Cox MF 6 John Bailey MF 7 Russell Beardsmore  105' MF 8 Steve Robinson FW 9 Mark Stein FW 10 Steve Fletcher MF 11 Christer Warren  90' Substitutes: DF Franck Rolling MF Jason Brissett  90' MF John O'Neil  105' Manager: Mel Machin

GK 1 Aidan Davison DF 2 John McDermott DF 3 Tony Gallimore  55' DF 4 Peter Handyside DF 5 Mark Lever MF 6 Wayne Burnett MF 7 Kevin Donovan MF 8 David Smith FW 9 Daryl Clare  55' FW 10 Lee Nogan  93' MF 11 Paul Groves (c) Substitute: FW 12 Steve Livingstone  55' MF 13 Kingsley Black  55' MF 14 Kevin Jobling  93' Manager: Alan Buckley

Match rules 90 minutes 30 minutes of extra-time if necessary Golden goal in extra time Penalty shoot-out if scores still level Maximum of three substitutions

External links

• Official website