POOLE Town winger Carl Preston faces up to three months on the sidelines after being diagnosed with a hernia.

Boss Tom Killick revealed that further investigations in to what had been considered a groin problem led to the discovery with the fleet-footed wideman now awaiting surgery.

Killick told the Daily Echo: “He needs an operation and our problem as a non-league club is that Carl is reliant on the NHS.

“At a professional club he would be having the operation and getting into the recovery period straight away. We have been given an indication that it might be able to happen within the next four weeks but the recovery is some six weeks after that.

"He has been told it will not do any further damage if he does play in the meantime but at the moment, he is in no fit state to do so.”

Dolphins travel to Conference South backmarkers Staines Town tomorrow (3pm) in the FA Trophy third qualifying round – the team that knocked them out of the FA Cup last season.

But despite their opponents’ lowly position, Killick explained why he anticipates a tough test at Wheatsheaf Park.

“They sold their top striker recently and have been allowed to reinvest that money in their squad,” he added.

“After speaking to a few people, they are hopeful of climbing the table with their recent additions. We came up against a mid-table Conference South side last year and I don’t see it being significantly different.

"But we deserved to win the game at their place, we just failed to take our chances so we should take that as a positive.”

Will Spetch remains sidelined and is “unlikely to be available until the end of December” according to Killick. Mark Jermyn should return following an illness.

Dolphins: (from) Hutchings, Tallack, Walker, Whisken, Pettefer, Burbidge, Gillespie, Devlin, Brooks, Roberts, Lowes, Maloney, Davis, Martin, Jermyn, Manley.