YORK CITY'S COCA-COLA CUP FIZZER

TOM GREEN RECALLS WHEN THE MINSTERMEN STUNNED ALEX FERGUSON'S MANCHESTER UNITED ALMOST BO YEARS AGO...

IN A Tuesday night in October some 28 years ago, Alex Ferguson took his all-conquering Manchester United side to Bootham Crescent for the second leg of a second round Coca-Cola Cup tie with struggling Division Two outfit York City.

Ferguson's men ran out 3-1 winners thanks to goals from Terry Cooke and two from some lad called Paul Scholes. Hardly surprising as the Red Devils fielded stars such as Eric Cantona, Ryan Giggs, Peter Schmeichel, David Beckham and Gary Neville.

So what is the news here? A powerhouse of English football comfortably beat a team near the bottom of the third tier - what's so special about that? Well, Scott Jordan's consolation goal on the night proved to be the winner in the tie as the lowly Minstermen overcame their illustrious visitors 4-3 over the two legs. 

Just short of two weeks before welcoming Ferguson and his men to their backyard, York had paid a visit to the manicured gardens of Old Trafford in front of a near 30,000 crowd and produced one of THE shocks in English cup football.

United started with a relatively strong side that included ten players who either were or would be international footballers, Giggs, Denis Irwin and Gary Pallister among them. Starting for the visitors were the future Republic of Ireland goalkeeper Dean Kiely, eventual Scotland international Graeme Murty and the father of Newcastle United winger Harvey Barnes, Paul.