MANAGER Tom Killick refused to hide behind excuses after Poole Town’s FA Cup “humiliation” at Chippenham on Saturday.

Andy Sandell’s hat-trick and a strike from Dave Pratt consigned the Dolphins to a shock 4-1 defeat to their Southern League opponents at Hardenhuish Park.

And while Killick felt Poole had been denied two penalties at 1-0 down, he acknowledged the side from one division below had warranted their victory.

Killick told the Daily Echo: “They were comprehensively better than us on the day.

“One, if not both, of the penalties should certainly have been given but I could not allow that to deflect away from our inadequacies. The scoreline was possibly harsh but they fully deserved their win.

"Sometimes, people can get carried away with themselves and forget the things that make you do well in the first place and that happened to us on this occasion.

"We forgot all of the basics and paid the price. It was a sobering, hurtful experience and we just have to try to use that to avoid repeating the performance because it was a humiliation.

"When the gulf between the sides is so big, to talk about referees, penalties, fixture schedules or injuries is not on. You have to face up to the fact you were vastly inferior and try to make sure you do not put yourselves in that position again.”

Ex-Wycombe striker Sandell landed an early blow having dispossessed Lewis Lindsay and tucked away at the second attempt.

Chippenham’s lead was doubled just before the hour mark when Michael Walker upended Pratt and Sandell slammed home the spot-kick.

Killick made a double change but the result was wrapped up with 21 minutes left when Poole found themselves overran and Sandell notched on the rebound after Pratt’s shot had been saved by Nick Hutchings.

The exposed Dolphins keeper could only parry Pratt’s blistering drive into the net three minutes later with substitute Lee Wort’s header proving a mere consolation.

And Killick warned his players to expect the pain of their early exit to linger for weeks to come.

“If we had played anything like I know we could have, we would have won the game and that made it all the more painful,” he added.

“With it being the FA Cup, there will be constant reminders of it all the way through now. It gathers pace from this point with excitement surrounding the draws, the games themselves, even the build-up.

"There is that anticipation but we have lost all that. We have to sit back and watch other people enjoy it.

“When you go out in the manner we did, there is that constant pain but we have to try to use that to our advantage in the league.”

Dolphins: Hutchings, Lindsay, Spetch, Walker (Wort, 60), Whisken, Pettefer (Granger, 21), Burbidge, Devlin, Surridge (Gillespie, 60), Gleeson, Roberts. Unused subs: Baggie, Case, Rees (g/k).