United's reserves put in a very impressive performance in overcoming Exeter City at St. James' Park 4-2 on Tuesday night. It was just the response Bucks was looking for from the squad after the 2-1 defeat at Southend at the weekend: ''We can learn as much if not more about our players from a reserve match as we do from a league game, every training session and match is being treated in the right manner and the players are giving us everything they have got. Our approach to the game on Tuesday night was excellent and the finishing was first class.

''We played 3-4-3 from the start, it is a formation we like the look of and we were very comfortable with it. The age groups of the two teams were very similar which was encouraging and we retained the ball well, were technically good and I was delighted with the performance. This is a competitive league and it can only be good for the players to get this kind of workout. I was delighted with the contributions of Ashley Yeoman and Ed Palmer, both need to continue their development and get stronger and work on their heading but they gave a good account of themselves.''

Bucks confirmed that he is taking a look at former Wycombe & Millwall full back Danny Senda who played the full 90 minutes at Exeter. Paul had also spent the early part of the week at QPR & Spurs taking in training sessions, running his eye over possible future recruits as well as picking the brains of two of the most experienced managers in the country; Neil Warnock & Harry Redknapp: ''It was a very good trip, Neil has been very good to me in my time at Plainmoor and both he and Harry have been through the divisions as managers and have a wealth of knowledge and experience.

United's next reserve fixture is at Plainmoor next Tuesday (14^th) when they host Forest Green Rovers with a 2.00pm kick-off.