WHILE City were making their Premier League bow in 1999-2000, Accrington Stanley were winning Division One of the Northern Premier League.

But with the Accies going on an incredible two-decade journey since, which has seen them ply their trade in League One since 2018, the Bantams have fallen from grace since that Millennium heyday.

Inevitably, that means the pair have crossed paths on multiple occasions in recent years, so ahead of today’s friendly at the Wham Stadium, we thought we’d look back on five of the best clashes down the years.

CITY 1 ACCRINGTON 2 (2004)

City first meeting with Stanley was in the LDV Vans Trophy way back in 2004, and produced one of the competition’s all-time great upsets.

Stanley had gone from Division One of the NPL to the Conference in just four years, but had only just become a professional outfit months earlier when they rocked up at Valley Parade for this Wednesday night fixture.

This was Stanley’s first ever game in the Vans, and they made their mark. With current boss John Coleman in charge, former Football League defender Mike Flynn put the visitors into a shock, but deserved, lead.

Dele Adebola swiftly equalised for the Bantams, and naturally, many felt the Conference side might have crumbled.

But Colin Todd’s side, only relegated from the First Division the season before, were stunned by Lee McEvilly’s last-gasp winner.

Less than two years later, and Accrington were a Football League side.

ACCRINGTON 2 CITY 3 (2008)

This was an extraordinary League Two encounter, with the Bantams producing a turnaround for the ages.

After a superb start to the season, City had stumbled, producing poor results against basement dwellers Bournemouth and Luton.

So when Accrington found themselves 2-0 up just after the break, netting soft goals through Jimmy Ryan and Terry Gornell, things looked bleak once again.

Accrington still held that healthy advantage with 10 minutes to go, before the game exploded into life.

Michael Boulding fired into the roof of the net to make it 2-1, before new signing Barry Conlon equalised with an 88th minute header.

Another new face popped up with the winner moments later. Joe Colbeck rolled a pass into the path of the prolific Peter Thorne, who drilled home his ninth goal of the season to send the visiting fans into raptures.

CITY 2 ACCRINGTON 1 (2012)

Stanley made City pay after that incredible October 2008 result, going unbeaten in their next eight games against the West Yorkshire side.

But there was something about that history-makers side of 2012-13, and while their other achievements that year obviously live longer in the memory, they also managed to break their Accrington hoodoo on Boxing Day.

That year’s League Cup finalists were sitting in a play-off berth when the Lancashire outfit came to town.

Garry Thompson gave the Bantams, who had the best home record in League Two at the time, an early lead.

And when Dean Winnard was sent off for the visitors, a victory looked to be in the bank.

But Accrington never stopped fighting, with Romuald Boco’s late equaliser pegging City back,

They had reckoned without Alan Connell though, who popped up with an 86th minute winner, a vital result on City’s eventual path to promotion.

CITY 1 ACCRINGTON 2 (2016)

The Bantams had established themselves as a top League One side by November 2016, with this the second season in a row that saw them reach the play-offs.

But Accrington were still proving something of a bogey team, and having already beaten City on penalties in the League Cup on August, they unceremoniously dumped them out of the FA Cup too.

Boco, who had already hit the bar earlier in the game, headed the League Two side in front after half an hour from a Sean McConville cross.

Matt Kilgallon flicked home Billy Clarke’s corner to level late on, but Boco set up Jordan Clark with 10 minutes to go, and his glorious angled shot sent the Bantams packing in the first round.

CITY 3 ACCRINGTON 0 (2019)

The Bantams, were, to put it mildly, awful in the 2018-19 campaign, and were comfortably relegated from League One.

They were well beaten by Accrington in the October of that year, and found themselves in the relegation zone when the Lancastrians rocked up at Valley Parade on New Year’s Day.

City had thumped Rochdale 4-0 just three days earlier though, and were buoyed by similarly impressive wins over Walsall and Scunthorpe in December.

And Accrington were put to the sword themselves in City’s first game of 2019.

Huddersfield loanee Lewis O’Brien put the Bantams in front with a fine strike from the edge of the box, before Offrande Zanzala was dismissed for a poor challenge on the young midfielder.

Even though O’Brien was forced off as a result, there was no stopping City, as strikes from Eoin Doyle and Connor Wood eased them to victory.

The win moved City out of the drop zone on goal difference, but they dropped straight back into it after a heavy defeat to Barnsley in their next game. They never got out again all season.