LEICESTER City do battle with first division Tranmere Rovers tomorrow in the last League Cup final to be played under the Twin Towers.

More than 70,000 will be there, and millions more will watch the spectacle on television. But no matter how entertaining, it is unlikely to match the drama York City generated in the competition nearly 30 years ago.

In the days before the League Cup was sponsored, City's third division battlers once came close to beating the form team in the country.

Dick Bielby, of Tadcaster, certainly remembers the night City put on a dazzling show that almost brought Sheffield United to their knees at Bramall Lane.

"The atmosphere was brilliant and the game was exciting throughout the whole 90 minutes," said 46-year-old Dick, who started watching City on a regular basis with his dad and two brothers when aged 11.

Now a season ticket holder and a founder member of independent supporters' group the Towton Minstermen, the number of games he has missed since 1964 probably amounts to less than the goals City have scored this season.

"The side we have today aren't fit to lace the 1971 team's boots," he added.

Under Tom Johnston, City had been promoted from the old fourth division the previous season, and they booked their trip to South Yorkshire with a 2-1 replay win at Middlesbrough.

However, the Minstermen were written off against Sheffield United before a ball was kicked. With Tony Currie in dazzling midfield form, the Blades were cutting a dash at the top of the old division one.

They were unbeaten in their first ten games and were still riding high at the top when maroon-shirted City gave them the fright of their lives in an epic encounter.

"This Sheffield side had hammered Leeds 3-0 a fortnight or so before our game," said Dick with a smile. "No-one gave us a chance, but we'd been written off at Middlesbrough and we won up there.

"My mum didn't let me go to Teesside because I had a driving lesson - but I skipped my lesson to be at the Sheffield game.

"I went with my brothers Peter and Michael and three or four friends, and we had a cracking night."

City became the first side to go ahead at Bramall Lane that season when a John Mackin free-kick was only partially cleared to Tommy Henderson whose centre was crashed in by Barry Swallow.

But within six minutes, Currie cracked a rising drive past Ron Hillyard, who made some brilliant stops as Currie-orchestrated United hit a 20-minute purple patch.

Then, nine minutes before the interval, Currie was tripped in the box by Dick Hewitt and Alan Woodward sent Hillyard the wrong way from the spot.

Anyone who thought City would fold after the interval were mistaken. Roared on by 4,000 travelling fans they took the game to the Blades and deservedly drew level midway through the half.

City forced a corner, Henderson whipped it over, it was cleared to Mackin, who lofted it back into the box. Swallow won the header, which was blocked, and Chris Topping, following up, forced it over the line.

Boosted by their equaliser, City went for the jugular and should have gone ahead four minutes from time when Pat Lally carved out a glorious chance for substitute Eddie Rowles, who miskicked with the goal at his mercy.

Dick recalls: "Rowles had only been on the pitch two or three minutes and I don't think he'd had time to get into the pace of the game. He put the ball over the bar by two or three inches."

City paid a high price for the miss two minutes later when the dangerous Woodward unleashed a 25-yard thunderbolt beyond Hillyard to break City's hearts.

"He turned on the proverbial sixpence, and not even Gordon Banks would have got near the shot," said Dick.

Although the goal proved the winner, the near 30,000 crowd certainly appreciated the super show City had put on, and to a man gave Johnston's heroes a standing ovation as they left the field.

"I wish there had been videos back then because it would have been a great game to record and save," said Dick. "We were unfortunate to get beat, but it was a real night to remember. It was a proper cup tie and a great advert for football."

Millennium Match facts

Football League Cup
Third round
Tuesday, October 5, 1971
Sheffield United 3 (Currie 19, Woodward 36 pen, 88)
York City 2 (Swallow 13, Topping 65)
Sheffield United: John Hope, Len Badger, Frank Barlow, John Flynn, Eddie Colquhoun, Ted Helmsley, Alan Woodward, Gil Reece, Billy Dearden, Tony Currie, Stewart Scullion.
York City: Ron Hillyard, John Mackin, Phil Burrows, Pat Lally, Barry Swallow, Chris Topping, Tommy Henderson, Kevin McMahon (Sub: Eddie Rowles 75), Paul Aimson, Laurie Calloway, Dick Hewitt.
Referee: Pat Partridge (Middlesbrough).
Attendance: 29,828.