Travelling back to April 1997 and with the Minstermen desperately trying to preserve their League Two status in their penultimate fixture at already-relegated neighbours,
Relegation-threatened York City escaped the drop for a second successive season following an absolutely crucial 2-0 victory at Rotherham United.
Twelve months earlier they had finally confirmed their safety at Brighton & Hove Albion in a rearranged Thursday morning kick-off following protesting home supporters disrupting the original fixture.
But this time City mercifully resolved their immediate fate one game earlier, to the clear relief of in excess of eight-hundred travelling fans at Millmoor.
York began with purpose and enterprise – and defender Tony Barras immediately saw a goal-bound downward header producing a fine reflex save from debutant teenage goalkeeper Phil Barnes, who also denied a similar effort from Neil Tolson.
Paul Stephenson was next to threaten as he sliced wide before then embarking on a trademark mazy run and cross to which Rodney Rowe couldn’t quite apply the necessary touch.
However, the visitors were to be rewarded for their dominance in first-half stoppage-time; Barras helping on fellow centre-back John Sharples’ cross and Rowe, playing in training boots having forgotten to pack his usual pair, seizing upon the opportunity to thump high into the roof of the net.
Rotherham, with only six league victories all season, finally won their first corner around the hour-mark and actually went close to an equaliser; Mark Monington glancing towards goal and covering winger Stephenson guiding away from the line.
But midway through the second period, York added a crucial second goal; Steve Bushell and Alan Pouton paving the way for Tolson to head in his seventeenth of the campaign.
The Millers were never allowed a route back into the contest after that, with Sharples in absolutely commanding form in defence for visitors who had worryingly lost their previous three games.
Meanwhile, news of fellow strugglers Shrewsbury Town simultaneously crashing to a surprise home defeat to regular away-day flops Preston North End, meant it was a joyful double-celebration for the travelling fans.
Manager Alan Little wasn’t about to join in with those celebrations, though:
“The pressure has been immense and it’s been a lot tougher than last year, because at the end of last season I said I did not want to be in the same position again,” he admitted to The Press. “We have not achieved anything really. There’s no celebration. It’s a relief not a celebration.”
Rotherham United: Barnes, McKenzie, Roscoe (Richardson 72), Bowman, Breckin, Monington, Berry, McGlashan, Landon (Hayward 46), Jean (McDougald 46), Hurst
York City: Warrington, McMillan, Himsworth, Bushell, Sharples, Barras, Pouton (Atkin 86), Tinkler, Tolson, Rowe (Bull 68), Stephenson
subs (unused): Reed
Goals: Rowe (45), Tolson (67)
Ref: G. Cain (Bootle)
Att: 3,122
