YORK City will be hoping to go forth in this Sunday's FA Cup first round clash with Barnsley.

The eagerly anticipated tie will be only the tenth game in 71 years to be staged at Bootham Crescent on a Sunday.

The history books show City's previous Sabbath encounters have realised a perfectly balanced mixed bag of results.

In their previous nine Sunday services, City have won three, lost three and drawn three.

City's last appearance on a Sunday was in February this year when the Minstermen beat Macclesfield Town 2-1 at the height of the club's well documented off-field problems.

The switch was part of an experiment by the club to see if Sunday matches would help generate bigger crowds.

It seemed to work with the clash with the Silkmen realising a crowd of 4,009, almost double that of the previous season's corresponding fixture.

Surprisingly given the relatively short time since City's last Sunday outing, only five players who played against the Silkmen are likely to feature this time around.

Richard Cooper, Chris Smith, Chris Brass, Lee Bullock and Lee Nogan are the only survivors, although Jon Parkin did also play but will be suspended this Sunday.

The Macclesfield clash was the first time Bootham Crescent had played host to a league match on a Sunday in almost 18 years.

However, in between, City had played two knock-out ties at Bootham Crescent on a Sunday.

One of those games included an FA Cup first round tie, but unfortunately for the superstitious City fans looking for omens it ended in defeat.

City's cup clash with Notts County on November 12, 1995, was screened live by Sky TV but in front of a crowd of 4,228 and thousands of television viewers City were beaten 1-0.

On May 15, 1994, City entertained Stockport County in the first leg of a Division Two play-off semi-final. The game ended scoreless but produced a crowd of 8,744 and realised then record gate receipts of more than £55,000.

City's promotion dreams were ended in the second leg, when Stockport's Chris Beaumont scored the decisive goal just five minutes from time.

City's other Sunday fixtures

March 17, 1985, v Bradford City, L 1-2. Attendance: 10, 440

November 11, 1984, v Doncaster Rovers, W 3-1. Attendance: 8,540

April 8, 1984, v Doncaster Rovers, D 1-1. Attendance: 11,293

January 23, 1983, v Scunthorpe United, W 2-1. Attendance: 7,097

February 24, 1974, v Cambridge United, W 2-0. Attendance: 7,149

February 10, 1974, v Watford, D 2-2. Attendance: 7,638

Updated: 11:58 Friday, November 07, 2003