One is 22-year-old Crewe striker Tom Pope who will join Mansfield once Crewe have brought in a replacement.

But Alexandra have twice seen deals scuppered in the last week which is holding things up.

The other is a Championship player who is away with his club on a mid-season break.

It continues to be a frustrating month for Dearden who saw another target, Peter Gain, sign for League Two rivals Dagenham and Redbridge last week and has also been told by Field Mill chief executive Stephen Booth that he cannot offer 18-month contracts to new signings.

"There is no panic," said Dearden. "If I got someone in this week then I wouldn't be playing them on Saturday anyway.

"Even if they were not cup tied and their clubs didn't mind them being cup-tied I want to give the opportunity to the players who have got us this far.

"A lot of teams not involved in the cup have gone away this week for a break and one player I want from a Championship club is not back until Friday.

"It's not as if we can't bring in anyone after January. There is a week and then you can bring in emergency loans again."
Dearden continues to look for potential new signings and, with one game he was going to watch this afternoon called off, he is going to St Andrews tonight to see Birmingham City reserves take on Arsenal.

Dearden has also organised a reserve friendly away to Loughborough University for Wednesday to get some much-needed match practice for some of his players.

But he confirmed neither Martin McIntosh (hamstring) or Alex John-Baptiste (back strain) would be involved as neither were even back in training with the first team yet.

Thankfully, there were no new injuries to report this morning after Saturday's 1-0 home defeat by Darlington.

Dearden has given his squad today off, they will train tomorrow and then again on Wednesday after a large 'meet the media' press conference in the morning when the FA Cup will also be at Field Mill.

Thursday will see Dearden's traditional pre-FA Cup tie walk over the Derbyshire Moors, followed by a pub meal.

And Friday will see another training sessions and then the squad kept together overnight in a hotel as part of the final preparations for Middlesbrough.