STEVE WHITE COLUMN: ALL credit goes out to my players for their performances so far in January as we are unbeaten.

It was particularly pleasing to get to the final of the Wiltshire Premier Shield for the second year in a row.

The venue for the final has yet to be decided but potentially we could be playing at Swindon Town's County Ground.

We have to get together with Swindon and decide where to play the final, we don't mind were it is played but it would be nice to take the team to a Football League stadium.

I had eight fantastic years at Swindon and I am looking forward to the match, which will be played sometime in April.

I had some good times there and have lots of great memories and count myself fortunate to be part of such a great team.

The lads performed superbly on Tuesday night and it was good that we won the game in normal time.

We gave some players much needed match practice and they came in and did extremely well.

They proved that we have a squad of 17 players who are all competing for the shirts.

It is a healthy situation to be in and the players are giving me a selection headache.

It is one of those headaches that a manager welcomes and they have proved there is not much to choose between them.

Last week in the Tuesday night Southern League Cup game against Cirencester we had a similar situation where the players who came in showed they were fighting for their shirts and did not disappoint me.

Mark Badman, James Constable, Sam Jones have all came in and showed me they came step into the team and perform at any time.

They have all staked their claim for a starting place for the important match against Welsh opponents Merthyr Tydfil on Saturday.

It was no mean feat to go to Salisbury and beat them on their own turf. We knew they would be difficult to break down, they were on a high after beating Ryman Premier League leaders Yeading on Saturday 2-1.

We both made lots of changes and some people belittle the competition. But at the end of the day you are playing for a chance to play against professional opposition and that is incentive enough for me.

We were again fortunate not to pick up any injuries in a game where neither side held back.

We were missing David Gilroy and Martin Paul for the game against Salisbury.

David fell awkwardly on his arm in the draw at Hednesford on Saturday and was rested. Martin has missed the last two games due to the flu, but I am hoping that both players will be available for selection on Saturday.

We have been very fortunate with injuries this season and I think that is because we have such a young squad and injuries tend to heal quicker.

We have an average age at the club of 24 with goalkeeper Mark Hervin being the only player over 30.

It is important to have experience in a side but it is equally important to have legs in your team.

Lee Davidson, Ben Kirk, Ian Herring are all good athletes and can all run around the pitch well.

I am delighted at our home form for 2005, we have played four, drawn one and won three.

I don't know why our results at home have changed dramatically, the four games we lost in November and December were only by small margins and I was happy with the performances.

Perhaps we have had a little bit of luck, but our finishing has improved.

If we can get a result on Saturday against Merthyr then we finish off a superb January period and set up the rest of our season.

I look forward to seeing you all on Saturday and if it is anything like the game in Wales, it should be an exciting match to watch.