THE loan system proved invaluable for York City this week with the last-gasp arrival of Phil Whitehead to Bootham Crescent on a seven day loan from Reading.

Shot-stopper Whitehead was signed as cover for the injured goalkeeper Michael Ingham, another player on loan with City.

Whitehead proved his worth in the 1-1 draw at Carlisle, as did another on-loan player, Anthony Shandran, who scored with a perfect strike.

In his three seasons in charge at City, manager Terry Dolan has developed a tremendous knack of securing some very useful temporary additions.

Nearly all have proved themselves a success at City. And those that have returned to their clubs at the end of their loan spell have gone on to bigger and better things.

Most notable, of course, is last season's top scorer Michael Proctor, who has emerged as a rare reason for Sunderland cheer at the Stadium of Light this season.

His club-mate Michael Reddy failed to match Proctor's impact at Bootham Crescent but still made some telling contributions and last Saturday scored a vital winning goal for Sheffield Wednesday, where he is now on loan, as Chris Turner's side bolstered their relegation fight with a surprising 2-1 victory at Portsmouth.

Winger Lee Cook, on loan at City at the start of the season, scored for Watford earlier this month and then sprung to prominence with an FA Cup semi-final appearance for the Hornets against Southampton last weekend.

In the current squad, Richard Cooper, Jon Parkin and Scott Jones all arrived at City on loan initially before pledging their allegiance to the Minstermen and then becoming important cogs in the City promotion machine.

Shandran, Ingham and Keith Graydon, another loan-star from Sunderland, are all playing their part in that drive too.

In two loan spells with City, Bradford centre-back Mark Bower helped the Minstermen climb free of the relegation mire and was aided and abetted by Wimbledon full-back Peter Hawkins.

Both players have now established themselves as First Division footballers with their clubs.

Keiron Durkan's career has stuttered since his loan spell at City in the autumn of 2000, but the Irish winger, now with Swansea, was quite a hit with the Minstermen fans at the time.

In contrast, Stoke striker Chris Iwelumo failed to win over the Bootham Crescent faithful in the very same season.

However, since returning to the Britannia Stadium Iwelumo has scored with regularity and has even earned a call-up to the Scotland 'B' squad.

Aston Villa striker Neil Tarrant and Sunderland full-back Mark Maley are perhaps the exceptions to the norm.

After scoring on his City debut Tarrant failed to register another goal and after returning to Villa Park moved to Boston United last season, helping the Pilgrims win promotion to the Football League before being released and joining Barrow.

He was last heard to be playing for Busan Icons in Korea.

Former England youth skipper Maley struggled to convince during his loan stay last season.

After returning to Sunderland he was accidentally shot in the eye by an air rifle by Black Cats' team-mate John Oster and was later released.

Speaking this week, Dolan gave his recipe for loan success.

He said: "I think the important thing is to use the loan system in the best way possible, and that doesn't mean taking a player just for the sake of it just to give us an extra body.

"Every time we have brought a loan player in it has been to go straight into the first team and so those players immediately feel wanted.

"Apart from Mark Maley, every player we have brought in on loan has done a good job.

"Some have gone on to improve and some have gone back to their clubs and improved there.

"From that point of view, the loan system has proved very beneficial.

"We have only got a small squad, so we need the loan players and as long as they are producing then everyone is happy."

Updated: 11:36 Saturday, April 19, 2003