STEVE WHITE COLUMN: I AM delighted to announce this week that David Gilroy will be staying with us for another month.

David has done tremendously well for us so far. He has scored six goals in just two months and has helped us to retain our position near the top of the table. I hope he continues to do that for the next month.

He is a great player and we are hoping to take him on a permanent move after the month is up.

He is Weston-super-Mare's player but I hope we can come to some type of arrangement. Finances dictate these situations but having spoken to the board I am confident something can be done.

The rules state that a player can only come on loan for three months, so there is no option to take him on for a fourth month. If he is to stay at the club it will be for good.

I did enjoy watching the FA Cup third round at the weekend. But on the BBC website is an article that suggests the cup is losing it stature and appeal.

They used graphs to show that attendances for the third round were down on last year and that viewing figures for the televised games were down. The FA Cup is special to every player and I don't think the cup has lost its appeal at all.

Perhaps they should look at figures for the past six years and look at the other rounds as well. Maybe they will get a true reflection of the FA Cup. The third round tossed up some great fixtures such as Exeter against Manchester United.

I have been a United fan since I was a young boy and I was a little bit worried about my favourite team crashing out of the cup.

The game was a phenomenal result for Exeter and has greatly improved their financial status. They had some big problems last season but have managed to pay off their debts with the revenue from the third round game.

In the FA Cup each team gets to keep 45 per cent of the gate receipts, with 67,000 people at the game, Exeter have made a lot of money. It is something every small club would love to do, including ourselves.

I hope the replay is just as exciting for the fans and Exeter continue to push United. Obviously I will be rooting for Manchester United and hope they can retain the FA Cup.

Manchester United and Arsenal have been criticised for fielding an understrength side and undermining the FA Cup. It almost backfired on United and it can make games more exciting.

I was asked if I would be disappointed if we played Manchester United in the cup and they fielded a team of players I had not heard of.

I would not be disappointed one bit, playing at Old Trafford in front of 67,000 fans.

As a manager I can sympathise with Alex Ferguson and Arsene Wenger. If you have an important league fixture coming up and you have an opportunity to rest your players then what's the problem?

It's all about priorities; these sides are in the European Cup as well as the FA Cup, Carling Cup and the Premiership. There is a huge amount of games to be played and something has to give way.

We also had a great weekend with a pleasing victory against Hemel Hempstead. We now have our first win of 2005, which is fantastic.

For a 20-minute period of the first half we were untouchable and that period won us the game.

There was some examples of outstanding attacking play, which tore them apart. I am a little bit disappointed with the second half. We did not score that many and relaxed somewhat.

To give credit to the lads it was an excellent victory. We did get our first home win for a while but I do not think much has changed. Although we were narrowly losing 1-0 at home the performances were top class

This month is vital for teams at the top and at the bottom. If we can get a big points haul in January we will give ourselves a real chance of finishing the season in the top five.