2018–19 National League (division)

National League 2018–19
Season information
Winners	Leyton Orient
Promoted	Leyton Orient Salford City
Relegated	Braintree Town Maidstone United Aldershot Town Havant & Waterlooville
Season statistics
← 2017-18	2019-20 →

The 2018–19 National League season, known as the Vanarama National League for sponsorship reasons, is the 4th season under English football's new title of National League, fourteenth season consisting of three divisions and the thirty-eighth season overall.

Promotion and Relegation

The following teams changed divisions after the 2017–18 season:

Despite a 2-1 defeat to Boston United on 21 April 2018, Salford City became 2017-18 National League North champions after Harrogate Town lost 3-1 to Bradford Park Avenue. Havant & Waterlooville were crowned 2017-18 National League South champions on 28 April 2018 after a 3-2 victory over Concord Rangers. On 13 May 2018, Harrogate Town were promoted after a 3-0 win against Brackley Town in the 2017-18 National League North playoff final. All three teams will play in the National League for the first time in their History. On the same day as Harrogate's promotion, Braintree Town were also promoted after beating Hampton & Richmond 4-3 on penalites after a 1-1 draw in the 2017-18 National League South playoff final, securing an instant return to the National League.

On 24 April 2018, after 97 years as an EFL club, Chesterfield were relegated to the National League following Morecambe's 0-0 draw against Cambridge United. On 5 May 2018, despite a 3-0 victory against Chesterfield, Barnet became the second club to be relegated from League Two following Morecambe's 0-0 draw against Coventry City, ending their three year stay in the EFL.

These teams will replace Macclesfield Town, Tranmere Rovers, Chester, Guiseley, Torquay United & Woking. Macclesfield Town were crowned 2017-18 champions and promoted to League Two on 21 April 2018 after a 2-0 victory over Eastleigh, ending their six-year absence from the EFL. Tranmere Rovers were promoted to League Two on 12 May 2018 after a 2-1 victory over Boreham Wood in the 2017-18 playoff final and returned to the EFL after a three-year absence.

Chester were the first team to be relegated from National League on 8 April 2018 after a 2–0 loss to Tranmere Rovers. Despite staying up on the final day for the past two seasons, it was not to be third time lucky for Guiseley who joined them on 17 April 2018 after a 1-0 loss to relegation rivals Barrow. Torquay United became the third team to be relegated from the National league on 21 April 2018 after a 1-1 draw with Hartlepool United, confirming the clubs first ever relegation to the Sixth Tier. The fourth and final team to suffer relegation was Woking, who were relegated on 28 April 2018 following a 2-1 defeat to Dover Athletic, ending their five year stay in the National League.

Team changes

To National League Promoted from National League North Salford City Harrogate Town Promoted from National League South Havant & Waterlooville Braintree Town Relegated from League Two Chesterfield Barnet

From National League Promoted to League Two Macclesfield Town Tranmere Rovers Relegated to National League North Chester Guiseley Relegated to National League South Torquay United Woking

Stadia and locations

Team	Location	Stadium	Capacity
Aldershot Town	Aldershot	Recreation Ground	7,200
Barnet	London (Edgware)	The Hive Stadium	6,418
Barrow	Barrow-in-Furness	Holker Street	5,045
Boreham Wood	Borehamwood	Meadow Park	4,502
Braintree Town	Braintree	Cressing Road	4,085
Bromley	London (Bromley)	Hayes Lane	5,300
Chesterfield	Chesterfield	Proact Stadium	10,504
Dagenham & Redbridge	London (Dagenham)	Victoria Road	6,078
Dover Athletic	Dover	Crabble Athletic Ground	5,745
Eastleigh	Eastleigh	Ten Acres	5,250
Ebbsfleet United	Northfleet	Stonebridge Road	4,500
AFC Fylde	Wesham	Mill Farm	6,000
FC Halifax Town	Halifax	The Shay	14,061
Gateshead	Gateshead	Gateshead International Stadium	11,800
Harrogate Town	Harrogate	Wetherby Road	3,800
Hartlepool United	Hartlepool	Victoria Park	7,856
Havant & Waterlooville	Havant	West Leigh Park	5,250
Leyton Orient	London (Leyton)	Brisbane Road	9,271
Maidenhead United	Maidenhead	York Road	3,377
Maidstone United	Maidstone	Gallagher Stadium	4,200
Salford City	Salford	Moor Lane	5,108
Solihull Moors	Solihull	Damson Park	4,313
Sutton United	London (Sutton)	Gander Green Lane	5,013
Wrexham	Wrexham	Racecourse Ground	10,771

Personnel and sponsoring

Team	Manager1	Captain	Kit manufacturer	Shirt Sponsor
Aldershot Town	Gary Waddock	Callum Renyolds	Adidas	Bridges Estate Agents
Barnet	John Still	Dan Sweeney	Jako	Jako
Barrow	Ady Pennock	Asa Hall	Pi	J.F. Hornby & Co.
Boreham Wood	Luke Garrard	Mark Ricketts	Erreà	Barnet and Southgate College
Braintree Town	Brad Quinton	Marc-Anthony Okoye	Jako	Ironmongery Direct
Bromley	Neil Smith	Jack Holland	Macron	The Glades
Chesterfield	Martin Allen	Ian Evatt	Puma	G.F. Tomlinson
Dagenham & Redbridge	Vacant	Andre Boucaud	Sondico	West & Co
Dover Athletic	Chris Kinnear	Mitch Brundle	Nike	Gomez
Eastleigh	Andy Hessenthaler	Sam Togwell	Macron	Utilita
Ebbsfleet United	Daryl McMahon	Dave Winfield	Macron	Mitsubishi Electric
AFC Fylde	Dave Challinor	Josh Langley	Nike	VetPlus
FC Halifax Town	Jamie Fullarton	Matty Brown	Adidas	Northern Powerhouse Developments (Home) Architectural Cladding Products Limited (Away)
Gateshead	Steve Watson	Neill Byrne	Sondico	Sevcon
Harrogate Town	Simon Weaver	Simon Ainge	Kappa	Strata
Hartlepool United	Matthew Bates	Carl Magnay	BLK	Utility Alliance Limited
Havant & Waterlooville	Lee Bradbury	Brian Stock	Joma	Bishops Printers
Leyton Orient	Justin Edinburgh	Charlie Lee	Nike	The Sun Dream Team
Maidenhead United	Alan Devonshire	Alan Massey	BLK	Maidenhead Advertiser
Maidstone United	Jay Saunders	Stuart Lewis	Macron	Britelite
Salford City	Graham Alexander	Liam Hogan	Umbro	Soccer Saturday Super 6
Solihull Moors	Mark Yates	Darren Carter	Surridge	John Shepherd Estate Agents
Sutton United	Paul Doswell	Jamie Collins	Joma	Angel Plastics
Wrexham	Sam Ricketts	Shaun Pearson	Macron	Ifor Williams Trailers

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Position in table	Incoming manager	Date of appointment
Chesterfield	Jack Lester	Sacked	24 April 2018	Pre-season	Martin Allen	15 May 2018
Wrexham	Andy Davies	End of Interim Contract	2 May 2018		Sam Ricketts	2 May 2018
Salford City	Anthony Johnson Bernard Morley	Resigned	8 May 2018		Graham Alexander	14 May 2018
Barnet	Martin Allen		10 May 2018		John Still	18 May 2018
Dagenham & Redbridge	John Still		17 May 2018		Peter Taylor	5 June 2018
Barrow	Adrian Pennock	Sacked	18 May 2018		Ian Evatt	15 June 2018
Solihull Moors	Mark Yates	Signed by Macclesfield Town	19 June 2018		Tim Flowers	20 June 2018
Maidstone United	Jay Saunders	Mutual consent	28 August 2018	19th	Harry Wheeler	11 September 2018
Dover Athletic	Chris Kinnear	Sacked	5 October 2018	24th	Andy Hessenthaler	8 October 2018
Braintree Town	Brad Quinton	Mutual agreement	7 October 2018		Andy Porter	7 October 2018
Eastleigh	Andy Hessenthaler	Signed by Dover Athletic	8 October 2018	10th	Ben Strevens	8 October 2018
Braintree Town	Andy Porter	Resigned	10 October 2018	24th	Hakan Hayrettin	10 October 2018
Ebbsfleet United	Daryl McMahon	Sacked	7 November 2018	10th	Garry Hill	8 November 2018
Hartlepool United	Matthew Bates		28 November 2018	12th	Richard Money	11 December 2018
Wrexham	Sam Ricketts	Signed by Shrewsbury Town	3 December 2018	4th	Graham Barrow	3 December 2018
Chesterfield	Martin Allen	Sacked	27 December 2018	22nd	John Sheridan	9 January 2019
Barnet	John Still	Retired	29 December 2018	13th	Darren Currie	29 December 2018
Gateshead	Steve Watson	Appointed as manager of York City	10 January 2019	8th	Ben Clarke	10 January 2019
Maidstone United	Harry Wheeler	Resigned	13 January 2019	23rd	John Still	24 January 2019
Hartlepool United	Richard Money	Resigned	23 January 2019	15th	Craig Hignett	23 January 2019
Braintree Town	Hakan Hayrettin	Appointed as assistant manager of Maidstone United	23 January 2019	24th	Danny Searle	23 January 2019
Wrexham	Graham Barrow	Resigned	2 February 2019	3rd	Bryan Hughes	6 February 2019

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Position in table	Incoming manager	Date of appointment
Chesterfield	Jack Lester	Sacked	24 April 2018	Pre-season	Martin Allen	15 May 2018
Wrexham	Andy Davies	End of Interim Contract	2 May 2018		Sam Ricketts	2 May 2018
Salford City	Anthony Johnson Bernard Morley	Resigned	8 May 2018		Graham Alexander	14 May 2018
Barnet	Martin Allen		10 May 2018		John Still	18 May 2018
Dagenham & Redbridge	John Still		17 May 2018		Peter Taylor	5 June 2018
Barrow	Adrian Pennock	Sacked	18 May 2018		Ian Evatt	15 June 2018
Solihull Moors	Mark Yates	Signed by Macclesfield Town	19 June 2018		Tim Flowers	20 June 2018
Maidstone United	Jay Saunders	Mutual consent	28 August 2018	19th	Harry Wheeler	11 September 2018
Dover Athletic	Chris Kinnear	Sacked	5 October 2018	24th	Andy Hessenthaler	8 October 2018
Braintree Town	Brad Quinton	Mutual agreement	7 October 2018		Andy Porter	7 October 2018
Eastleigh	Andy Hessenthaler	Signed by Dover Athletic	8 October 2018	10th	Ben Strevens	8 October 2018
Braintree Town	Andy Porter	Resigned	10 October 2018	24th	Hakan Hayrettin	10 October 2018
Ebbsfleet United	Daryl McMahon	Sacked	7 November 2018	10th	Garry Hill	8 November 2018
Hartlepool United	Matthew Bates		28 November 2018	12th	Richard Money	11 December 2018
Wrexham	Sam Ricketts	Signed by Shrewsbury Town	3 December 2018	4th	Graham Barrow	3 December 2018
Chesterfield	Martin Allen	Sacked	27 December 2018	22nd	John Sheridan	9 January 2019
Barnet	John Still	Retired	29 December 2018	13th	Darren Currie	29 December 2018
Gateshead	Steve Watson	Appointed as manager of York City	10 January 2019	8th	Ben Clarke	10 January 2019
Maidstone United	Harry Wheeler	Resigned	13 January 2019	23rd	John Still	24 January 2019
Hartlepool United	Richard Money	Resigned	23 January 2019	15th	Craig Hignett	23 January 2019
Braintree Town	Hakan Hayrettin	Appointed as assistant manager of Maidstone United	23 January 2019	24th	Danny Searle	23 January 2019
Wrexham	Graham Barrow	Resigned	2 February 2019	3rd	Bryan Hughes	6 February 2019

League table

2018–19 National League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Leyton Orient  (C) (P)	46	25	14	7	73	35	+38	89	Promotion to League Two
2	Solihull Moors	46	25	11	10	73	43	+30	86	Qualification to the Qualified for the National League play-off semi-finals
3	Salford City  (P) (O)	46	25	10	11	77	45	+32	85
4	Wrexham	46	25	9	12	58	39	+19	84	Qualified for the National League play-off qualifying round
5	AFC Fylde	46	22	15	9	72	41	+31	81
6	Harrogate Town	46	21	11	14	78	57	+21	74
7	Eastleigh	46	22	8	16	62	63	−1	74
8	Ebbsfleet United	46	18	13	15	64	50	+14	67
9	Gateshead	46	19	9	18	52	48	+4	66
10	Sutton United	46	17	14	15	55	60	−5	65
11	Barrow	46	17	13	16	52	51	+1	64
12	Bromley	46	16	12	18	68	61	+7	60
13	Barnet	46	16	12	18	45	50	−5	60
14	Dover Athletic	46	16	12	18	58	64	−6	60
15	Chesterfield	46	14	17	15	55	53	+2	59
16	FC Halifax Town	46	13	20	13	44	43	+1	59
17	Hartlepool United	46	15	14	17	56	62	−6	59
18	Dagenham & Redbridge	46	15	11	20	50	56	−6	56
19	Maidenhead United	46	16	6	24	45	70	−25	54
20	Boreham Wood	46	12	16	18	53	65	−12	52
21	Aldershot Town  (R)	46	11	11	24	38	67	−29	44	Relegation to National League South
22	Braintree Town  (R)	46	11	8	27	48	78	−30	41
23	Havant & Waterlooville  (R)	46	9	13	24	62	84	−22	40
24	Maidstone United  (R)	46	9	7	30	37	82	−45	34

Source: National League official site
Rules for classification: 1st points; 2nd goal difference; 3rd number of goals scored.
(C) = Champion; (R) = Relegated; (P) = Promoted; (O) = Play-off winner; (A) = Advances to a further round; (Q) = Qualified to the phase of tournament

Results table

Home \ Away	FYL	ALD	BRN	BRW	BOR	BRA	BRO	CHE	DAG	DOV	EAS	EBB	HAL	GAT	HAR	HAT	HAV	LEY	MDH	MDS	SAL	SOL	SUT	WRE
AFC Fylde	—	3–0	1–0	0–0	2–1	3–0	2–1	0–1	1–1	4–0	4–2	2–0	0–2	1–0	0–0	4–2	6–2	1–3	2–1	2–0	0–2	3–1	2–2	2–0
Aldershot Town	0–0	—	0–0	0–2	1–1	1–0	3–2	0–2	2–1	2–0	1–3	0–2	3–0	0–2	0–2	1–1	2–0	1–2	0–0	0–1	0–1	0–3	2–1	0–0
Barnet	1–1	2–0	—	3–1	1–1	1–1	1–1	0–2	2–1	2–0	1–2	0–3	1–1	1–2	1–0	0–0	2–2	0–0	1–0	0–2	1–3	2–0	0–1	1–2
Barrow	1–1	2–1	0–2	—	1–2	1–0	1–1	3–2	0–1	2–3	0–3	0–0	0–0	1–2	2–2	1–0	3–0	2–3	2–0	1–0	3–2	1–2	2–1	0–0
Boreham Wood	1–1	0–2	1–0	1–1	—	1–1	2–1	1–0	1–0	0–1	3–3	0–0	2–1	1–1	2–4	0–4	1–3	1–0	3–1	0–1	2–3	2–2	1–2	0–2
Braintree Town	2–1	0–1	4–0	0–2	1–1	—	2–4	1–3	2–0	2–1	1–2	0–4	0–2	2–0	0–4	1–1	3–4	1–5	0–2	0–1	1–0	0–3	2–2	0–1
Bromley	3–2	2–2	0–1	2–1	0–2	2–4	—	3–3	0–2	2–2	0–1	5–1	2–2	1–0	1–1	4–0	4–0	2–1	1–0	2–0	0–2	0–2	2–1	2–0
Chesterfield	0–0	3–0	0–1	0–0	3–2	1–0	1–1	—	2–0	0–0	2–3	3–3	1–0	0–3	0–1	1–1	0–0	0–1	1–3	4–1	2–0	0–4	3–0	1–1
Dagenham & Redbridge	2–1	1–1	0–1	0–0	4–4	1–0	3–0	1–1	—	1–3	2–0	1–3	1–1	0–2	2–1	1–2	3–1	2–1	2–2	1–2	0–0	1–1	1–0	1–2
Dover Athletic	2–1	1–0	1–2	0–2	1–1	3–0	1–1	0–0	0–2	—	1–2	1–1	2–1	1–2	2–3	2–1	4–3	0–0	2–0	3–1	1–4	0–2	3–0	0–1
Eastleigh	0–0	1–2	0–3	0–1	1–0	2–1	1–0	1–1	1–0	2–2	—	0–1	0–1	1–0	2–1	3–2	2–1	1–1	2–0	2–0	1–1	1–2	3–2	1–3
Ebbsfleet United	1–3	3–1	1–0	1–0	3–2	4–2	1–2	0–1	0–1	0–1	3–0	—	4–0	0–1	0–2	0–0	1–1	2–0	3–0	1–1	0–1	0–1	0–1	4–2
FC Halifax Town	0–0	0–0	3–0	2–0	1–1	0–0	2–2	1–1	2–1	1–0	0–1	0–0	—	1–0	1–1	1–2	0–0	1–1	0–1	3–0	0–0	2–0	0–1	2–1
Gateshead	0–1	3–0	2–1	0–2	1–1	0–1	2–0	1–0	2–0	2–1	0–1	1–1	1–1	—	2–3	2–1	0–0	1–1	0–1	1–0	2–1	1–2	0–0	1–1
Harrogate Town	1–2	4–1	2–0	4–2	0–1	3–1	1–0	1–1	1–1	2–2	4–0	1–2	1–2	2–0	—	3–1	3–2	0–3	1–0	2–2	0–1	3–1	2–2	0–0
Hartlepool United	1–2	1–1	1–3	0–0	2–0	2–1	1–2	1–0	1–2	3–2	1–1	0–1	2–1	2–1	2–2	—	1–1	1–1	2–1	1–2	3–2	0–1	2–3	1–0
Havant & Waterlooville	1–1	2–1	0–2	2–0	0–0	2–1	0–3	1–2	3–0	0–0	2–2	3–3	2–1	0–1	1–2	1–2	—	1–2	7–0	5–2	1–1	0–1	1–2	2–3
Leyton Orient	2–0	0–0	3–1	2–2	1–0	0–0	3–1	3–1	1–0	3–0	3–2	1–1	2–2	2–0	2–0	0–0	4–0	—	0–1	3–0	0–3	3–0	0–1	1–0
Maidenhead United	0–6	4–3	0–1	1–1	1–0	0–1	2–2	2–0	1–1	1–0	2–0	1–1	3–0	1–3	1–2	0–1	2–1	0–2	—	3–2	0–3	1–2	1–0	0–2
Maidstone United	1–1	0–2	2–1	1–0	1–2	0–2	0–1	1–1	0–3	0–1	1–3	0–2	0–1	2–3	0–2	1–1	2–0	1–2	2–4	—	0–2	1–3	0–1	1–1
Salford City	0–1	4–0	0–0	3–1	3–1	2–2	2–1	3–2	1–2	1–3	0–2	1–1	2–1	1–1	3–2	3–0	3–0	1–1	3–0	1–0	—	2–0	2–0	2–0
Solihull Moors	1–2	1–0	2–2	0–1	0–0	2–1	5–0	2–2	2–0	2–2	4–1	2–1	0–0	1–0	2–0	0–1	3–2	0–0	1–0	5–0	0–0	—	2–2	1–0
Sutton United	0–0	2–1	0–0	0–1	0–4	0–3	1–0	1–1	1–0	2–2	1–0	1–0	1–1	4–2	2–1	2–2	2–2	1–2	0–1	2–2	2–1	2–2	—	3–0
Wrexham	0–0	2–0	1–0	1–3	3–0	3–1	2–2	1–0	1–0	0–1	2–0	4–1	0–0	3–1	2–1	1–0	1–0	0–2	1–0	1–0	5–1	1–0	1–0	—

Source: National League Results Grid
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.
For upcoming matches, an "a" indicates there is an article about the rivalry between the two participants.

Play-offs

	Quarter-finals					Semi-finals					Final
						2	Solihull Moors	0
	5	Fylde	3			5	Fylde	1
	6	Harrogate Town	1								3	Salford City	3
											5	Fylde	0
						3	Salford City	1 (4)
	4	Wrexham	0			7	Eastleigh	1 (3)
	7	Eastleigh (a.e.t.)	1

Quarter-finals

1 May 2019 (2019-05-01)	Fylde	3–1	Harrogate Town	Medlar-with-Wesham
		Report		Stadium: Mill Farm

2 May 2019 (2019-05-02)	Wrexham	0–1	Eastleigh	Wrexham
		Report		Stadium: Racecourse Ground

Semi-finals

4 May 2019 (2019-05-04)	Solihull Moors	0–1	Fylde	Solihull
		Report	Philliskirk  2'	Stadium: Damson Park Attendance: 3,681

5 May 2019 (2019-05-05)	Salford City	1–1 (4–3 pen)	Eastleigh	City of Salford
		Report		Stadium: Moor Lane
		Penalties
	{{{penalties1}}}		{{{penalties2}}}

Final

11 May 2019 (2019-05-11)	A.F.C. Fylde	0–3	Salford City	London
15:00		Report	Dieseruvwe  15' Piergianni  53' Touray  61'	Stadium: Wembley Stadium Attendance: 8,049 Referee: James Oldham

Top scorers

As of matches played 10 April 2019

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Danny Rowe	Fylde	26
2	Paul McCallum	Eastleigh	25
3	Macauley Bonne	Leyton Orient	22
4	Adam Rooney	Salford City	20
5	Scott Boden	Gateshead / Chesterfield	19
6	Jack Muldoon	Harrogate Town	16
7	Michael Cheek	Ebbsfleet United	15
8	Adi Yussuf	Solihull Moors	14
9	Adrian Clifton	Maidenhead United	13
	JJ Hooper	Bromley
	Liam Noble	Hartlepool United
	Alfie Rutherford	Havant & Waterlooville
13	Jermaine Hylton	Solihull Moors	12
	Danny Kedwell	Ebbsfleet United

Monthly Awards

Each month the Vanarama National League announces their official Player of the Month and Manager of the Month.

Month	Player of the Month	Club	Manager of the Month	Club
August 2018	Akil Wright	Wrexham	Jamie Fullarton	Halifax Town
September 2018	Marvin Ekpiteta	Leyton Orient	Graham Alexander	Salford City
October 2018	Mike Williamson	Gateshead	Sam Ricketts	Wrexham
November 2018	Elliot Justham	Dag & Red	Justin Edinburgh	Leyton Orient
December 2018	Michael Cheek	Ebbsfleet	Ian Evatt	Barrow