WEMBLEY heroes Paul Stancliffe and Paul Atkin are to renew their central defensive partnership at Bootham Crescent on Sunday.

They were in the famous City promotion play-off team of 1993 which is to come together again for a specially-arranged fund-raising Past Players Festival match.

They will pit their skills against the 1983-84 old Fourth Division- winning side in what should be an afternoon to savour for Minstermen fans.

Stancliffe, City's youth development officer said: "It promises to be a great day. I have not seen some of the Wembley guys since they left the club. I have not seen Paul for ages."

Atkin left City for Scarborough and is now working as a driving instructor, while organiser and City fan Graham Bradbury has recruited Andy McMillan, Wayne Hall, Jon McCarthy, Paul Barnes, Tony Canham, Glenn Naylor and Ian Blackstone to play under the managership of Alan Little.

Stancliffe hopes to complete the full 90 minutes even though he last played a competitive game about four years ago.

He played for the Sheffield-based Johnny Quinn All-Stars over-40s team which helped raised money for charity.

If he does complete the game that will be more than he managed at Wembley. He came off with a thigh strain to be replaced by Steve Tutill, whose last-gasp handball literally handed opponents Crewe a lifeline.

Alexandra's penalty equaliser took the match to extra time and ultimately to the nail-biting penalty shootout in which City triumphed.

Of the legendary 1983-84 Championship squad, which was the first to gain 100 points in the Football League, Alan Hay, Malcolm Crosby, John McPhail, Dale Banton, Ricky Sbragia, Gary Ford, John Byrne, Derek Hood, Brian Pollard and Chris Evans hope to play.

The match kicks off at 2pm. Admission is £5 (£3 concessions).

City's hospitality suites and boardroom, usually reserved for sponsors and visiting officials, are being opened up to supporters.

The club are offering two hospitality packages for the match - one for the boardroom and a seat in the directors' box and another in a hospitality suite. Both include a buffet and complimentary drinks.

Thirteen tickets remain for the boardroom (£25 per head) and 28 are available for the hospitality suites (£20 per head).

Tickets must be paid for in advance or when collected from the ticket office on Sunday.

Anyone wishing to book tickets should email festival@ycst.org.uk or telephone City director Mike Brown on 01904 610747.

Funds raised from the match will go towards the £60,000 bill City face for preparing the scrapped Huntington Stadium plan. That bill needs to be paid in April.

Updated: 10:05 Thursday, March 04, 2004