YORK City will have to beat a Morecambe side who want to make it third time lucky if they are to play under the new Wembley arch in the Conference play-off final.

While the Minstermen have entered the Conference play-off race for the first time this year, the Shrimps are a side with a host of post-season experience.

Tonight's KitKat Crescent encounter will be the third time in five years the club, who play at Christie Park, have made the Conference play-offs.

They lost out 4-3 on aggregate in extra time to Hereford last year in the semi-final and the memories of that painful defeat are spurring a number of the squad to get the job done this time around.

Skipper Jim Bentley, who picked up a calf injury in a 1-0 win over Grays on Saturday which secured Morecambe third place in the Conference table, said he will have overcome the problem in time for the York visit.

"We were all gutted (last year) and it took a while to recover from that but we are back there now and we want to go that one step further," he said.

The ties will see two of the Conference's top form sides collide.

Both York and Morecambe have won four, lost one and drawn one of their last six games. Morecambe have not lost a single game where they have led this season.

The coastal club hold the slight edge in the meetings between the two sides this season.

In September, the Shrimps took a 3-2 win away from KitKat Crescent and notched up a second victory following a 2-1 win at Christie Park in the FA Trophy in December.

But that away defeat was a mere blip for York, who re-established their superb travelling record with a 3-1 win on New Year's Day - Steve Bowey, Craig Farrell and Clayton Donaldson getting the goals.

Morecambe, who are bossed by former Northern Ireland manager Sammy McIlroy, may well turn to midfielder and leading marksman Michael Twiss - who scored 14 goals before injuring medial ligaments in February.

Twiss returned for the Grays game, notching up 84 minutes, and is expected to feature heavily in the Shrimps' play-off campaign. He netted two of Morecambe's goals against City in their September KitKat Crescent success.

McIlroy, a former Manchester United star, has already taken Macclesfield Town into the Football League from the Conference and has held the reins at Morecambe for a season and a half.


City v Morecambe match points

Compiled by David Batters

Morecambe have made six previous League and Cup visits and their 3-2 Conference victory here in September was their first success at York.

This game was played on September 12, 2006 and City's line-up was; Reid, Craddock, Dudgeon, (Parslow), McGurk, Peat (Lloyd), Convery, Panther (McMahon), Bishop, Woolford, Farrell, Donaldson. Martyn Woolford and Clayton Donaldson (penalty) were the scorers.

IT HAPPENED ON MAY 4

1963: Wally Gould was the marksman in a 1-0 home win over Rochdale in front of 4,442 and City were 18th in Division Four. Owing to the big freeze of that winter the season was extended and City did not finish their campaign until May 20.

1968: A 2-2 draw at Aldershot with Ted MacDougall and Andy Provan on target. City were in the bottom four of the Fourth and poised to make a second successive application for re-election to the Football League.

1982: Aldershot again provided the opposition and City won a Fourth Division encounter at Bootham Crescent 4-0 with goals from Keith Walwyn, Gary Ford, John Byrne and Derek Hood. The attendance was 1,571 and City were 19th in the table.

1987: Keith Walwyn scored his last goals for the club when he netted twice in a 3-2 reverse at Wigan Athletic. City were 20th in Division Three (League One).

1996: City suffered a 2-0 defeat at home to Blackpool, then managed by Sam Allardyce. The crowd was 7,147 and City dropped into the bottom four of the Third (League One). A win at Brighton in the last game of the season avoided relegation.