CASH-STRAPPED York City are set for a welcome cash-boost following their FA Cup heroics.

The Minstermen had already banked £50,000 in prize money for seeing off Colchester and Reading in rounds one and two.

Last night's win over Grimsby will see City receive a further £50,000 for their efforts, meaning a £100,000 boost for Minstermen coffers so far.

Should City overcome Fulham, who booked their place in the fourth round with a 1-0 win over Wycombe Wanderers last night, then City will bank a further £75,000 prize-fund payment.

To add to the already considerable monies received following their Cup heroics is the gate receipts from their five FA Cup clashes so far.

In total, 20,215 fans have witnessed City's march to the fourth round, which includes a first round replay with Colchester and last night's replay with Grimsby.

That attendance figure is bound to be bolstered considerably when Fulham visit Bootham Crescent for the fourth round tie, which will be staged on Saturday, January 26.

The money-laden Cottagers will be expected to bring a sizeable following up with them from the capital and it seems likely last night's bumper crowd of 6,638 will be surpassed.

It was however City's biggest home crowd of the season by far, easily surpassing the 4,307 who witnessed their opening day defeat to Rushden and Diamonds .

It was also their biggest home crowd for a competitive fixture at Bootham Crescent since December 1999 when 7,527 saw City beat Manchester City 1-0 in Division Two.

Ironically, last night was the first time the Bootham Crescent attendance rose above the 6,000 mark since Fulham were the visitors back in February 1999.

The bigger than anticipated crowd meant hundreds of fans were still in the car-park when the game kicked-off.

Queues stretching from the turnstiles for the David Longhurst Stand to the main gates were witnessed as the game got underway.

Fans were still coming into the ground some 30-minutes after kick-off and some paid £10 to gain entry to the David Longhurst Stand instead of the usual £9 as turnstile operators had run out of change.

Updated: 11:31 Wednesday, January 16, 2002