BOSS Tom Killick saw Poole Town move to within touching distance of the title before revealing he would quit if the Dolphins were to fail in their promotion quest this season. 

Poole will win the championship if Swindon Supermarine lose at Shortwood United tomorrow but, irrelevant of that result, Killick’s charges will lift the trophy if they win at Clevedon Town on Wednesday.

The dream scenario was set up by Poole’s 2-1 win at Cinderford Town on Saturday while Marine could only manage a point from their home game with Shortwood.

Dan Cann’s brace either side of half-time handed Dolphins their third straight victory, extending to 15 matches their unbeaten league sequence.

But Killick, who led the Dolphins to three straight Wessex League titles before an agonising defeat to Gosport Borough in the Southern League play-offs last season, admitted Poole simply had to get the job done this time.

The Tatnam chief told the Daily Echo: “It would be a big relief to get it wrapped up after what happened in the play-offs last year. If we didn’t manage to go up then it would have pretty much been the end of the line for me personally and, I think, for a lot of the players.

“It has been such a hard, drawn-out slog for us and we are desperate to get it done. I feel we should have gone up last year and we have been under pressure to deliver all season. I couldn’t have coped with another year of doing all that again. The club, quite rightly, expected to go up this year too.

“It looks imminent now but I want it to happen as soon as possible. In an ideal world, we would win it out on the pitch but I would rather see Swindon lose and then it is finished. I don’t care whether I am sat in the dugout or on the toilet when it happens as long as it happens.”

And Killick, who praised his players’ attitude in what he described as a “war of attrition” in Gloucestershire on Saturday, already has his eye on another promotion from the Southern League Premier Division.

“The ultimate aim for me is to try and get this club into the Conference South.” he added.

“It is the exceptional level in part-time football and it is a standard that a town like Poole deserves.

“A lot of managers stay safe when they talk about targets and try to take the pressure off themselves but we will be going in to attack the Premier Division and, with the players we have, I don’t see why we can’t be right up there at the top end of it.”

Dolphins: Hutchings, Clarke, Spetch, Emmerson, Walker, Brooks, Burbidge (Byerley, 80), Devlin, Cane (Charles, 60), Preston, Cann (Kelly, 72). Unused subs: Dibba, T Brown (g/k).