THE FA Cup may have had its knockers in recent seasons but the old girl came out fighting at the weekend to show she is alive and well.

Cardiff beating Leeds, Bristol Rovers winning at Derby, the Os knocking out Pompey and even Everton defeating Stoke - the shocks kept coming.

That is why those who sneered at Burnley's 4-1 triumph against Ryman League leaders Canvey Island had missed the point.

"Bunch of part-timers, it should have been eight," said one.

"How the heck did you let them get a goal," chimed another.

"What will happen when Burnley play someone good?" asked a third.

The bottom line is that none of that matters. When it comes to the FA Cup there is only one thing that counts and that is being in the hat or, as it is now, the glass bowl contraption for the next round.

You may scrape through on penalties, it may be via a goal that has bounced in off your big defender's back side, it may be an own goal of Phil Neville calibre, all that is irrelevant.

Whatever it takes you want to go through because if you are not in, you can't win. Just ask David O'Leary.

That is why there can be a certain degree of satisfaction at Turf Moor this week on a tricky job well done.

Of course Burnley should have beaten Canvey Island, no matter how long the non-Leaguer's unbeaten run was before kick off - and 99 times out of 100 they would.

But the beauty of the competition is that every now and then that 100th game crops up, the one that grabs all the headlines, the one that sees Sutton United beat Coventry or Harlow knock out Leicester City.

And the Canvey team certainly played in the right coloured kit to prove to be a banana skin.

The fact that they did not cause the Clarets to slip up is credit to the professional way the club prepared for the game and it is that approach that will be required if Burnley are to progress to the fifth round.

In a previous incarnation I covered Cheltenham Town when they won the FA Trophy at Wembley, the year before they were promoted to the Football League.

In Steve Cotterill they have a manager in the Stan Ternent mould. A career cut short by injury, a passion for coaching and, being a local lad, a love of his club.

They also have a loyal band of followers who will be fired up and waiting to greet the Clarets with a chorus of: "We all come from Cheltenhamshire, and we all drive a tractor, ooh aah, ooh aah."

It will be a tough trip to Whaddon Road but, once again, nothing will matter but the result.