York City secretary Keith Usher confirmed today the club would not be in a position to come to the aid of crisis-torn Hull City.

As reported, the Tigers were yesterday locked out of their ground, Boothferry Park, by landlord David Lloyd.

While Hull chairman Nick Buchanan remains confident of having the court order banning him from the ground overturned, Saturday's home clash with Leyton Orient remains in doubt.

Buchanan stated yesterday should the ban not be lifted he would turn to York City and other clubs in the region like Mansfield, Scunthorpe and Grimsby for permission to use their grounds in order to fulfil the fixture.

However Usher said playing the tie at Bootham Crescent was not an option.

"There is no way Hull City will be playing at York City due to the amount of matches we have arranged and given the current state of the pitch," he said.

"Our match last Saturday was cancelled, the reserve team game tonight is in some doubt and we also have a reserve team match here on Monday."

There is also a chance Bootham Crescent could be in use on Saturday even though the senior side are at Scunthorpe.

City intermediates are due to play Lincoln at the club's Wigginton Road training ground but should the pitches there be deemed unplayable the tie could be switched to Bootham Crescent.

The reserve encounter on Monday is a rearranged game with Huddersfield Town, kick-off 2pm.

On Wednesday, Bootham Crescent will be in action again when it hosts Leeds United's second string game with Manchester City.

The decision to rearrange York City's Division Three clash with Darlington to March 13 has led to the postponement of the final fundraising event of Wayne Hall's Testimonial year.

The Sportsman's Dinner was due to be staged at York Racecourse on the same night but will now take place towards the end of the season.

Organiser Graham Bradbury said: "We are looking at the end of April or early May.

"We've sold around 150 tickets but fortunately, having spoken to people explaining what has happened, no one has asked for their money back."

The City v Darlington clash was scheduled to take place last Saturday but was postponed because of a water-logged Bootham Crescent pitch.

Tickets for City's match at Brighton on February 24 are now on sale at Bootham Crescent, priced £13.50 for adults and £8.50 for concessions.

The 344 allocated tickets are seated only and must be bought in advance.

Updated: 09:32 Wednesday, February 07, 2001