YORK City today breathed a massive sigh of relief after being spared playing two crunch cup duels in three days.

The Minstermen were pitched into travelling to Farsley Celtic in the FA Trophy third round this Sunday from the original Saturday date on advice from West Yorkshire Police.

So to avoid a fixture crunch City appealed to next week's Setanta Shield opponents Northwich to put Tuesday's fifth round tie at KitKat Crescent back 24 hours to Wednesday.

The Vics bluntly refused to co-operate, insisting the tie go ahead as planned on Tuesday. City then launched an appeal to the Conference League arbitration panel. And to City's relief, the deliberation of the independent two-man panel deemed the original date would give the Cheshire-based side an unfair advantage.

So today the Conference issued an instruction to Northwich that the tie must be switched from its original Tuesday night kick-off to Wednesday. That leaves the Minstermen more time to recover from Sunday's trip to Farsley, though with little thanks to Northwich.

Farsley Celtic's 2-0 midweek triumph at Alfreton in the FA Trophy second round replay confirmed a Yorkshire derby for City as they push for success on two cup fronts.

But then City were informed West Yorkshire Police could not police the tie on Saturday because their resources would be at full stretch due to Leeds United's Coca-Cola One clash at Elland Road against fellow promotion challengers Tranmere being followed by the opening of the Super League season with Leeds Rhinos hosting a visit by Hull KR at Headingley.

City were willing to put the scheduled 3pm showdown back to 7.30pm and 7.45pm, but again the West Yorkshire force said there was no way they could accommodate the FA Trophy encounter, so it was agreed it be moved to Sunday at 3pm.

City's only other visit to Celtic's Throstle Nest ground was also on the Sabbath back on November 4 when they walloped their Yorkshire rivals 4-1.

With Saturday's tie having to be put back 24 hours, City appealed to Northwich to accede to a similar request to shelve the Setanta Shield spat to Wednesday.

The Vics' resistance threatened that hope, but the decision of the arbitration panel means a double whammy of two cup ties in just over 48 hours has been avoided. Only last week Northwich spurned a request by City to play seven days earlier than scheduled.