POOLE Town boss Tom Killick saw his side suffer a 2-1 defeat at National South rivals Dartford before insisting he could "live with the loss", writes Gareth Davies.

Despite emerging with nothing to show for their efforts, Dolphins were a much-improved proposition from the team which had meekly exited the FA Trophy at the hands of Weymouth four days earlier.

Duane Ofori-Acheampong headed home Lee Noble's centre after 20 minutes to put the Darts ahead and moments later, Luke Wanadio profited from a defensive mistake to slot past keeper Nick Hutchings, leaving Dolphins with a mountain to climb.

Luke Roberts reduced the arrears before the break and despite dominating for long periods, Poole could not find the equaliser their endeavours perhaps deserved.

Steve Devlin had arguably the best chance to grab a share of the spoils but his long-range effort was kept out by home stopper Darren Ibrahim.

As the match wore on, Poole threw caution to the wind and Ofori-Acheampong should have grabbed Dartford’s third as the clock ticked down, somehow skewing wide from inside the six-yard box.

Killick told the Daily Echo: “Two really basic mistakes saw us gift them two goals. That was the only disappointing thing for us as the performance was much better than Tuesday and we were far and away the better side.

“We went into the game with morale quite low within the squad which is understandable as the Weymouth defeat won’t be forgotten for a long time and will stay with us all season.

“With that in mind, when you go two goals down, the worry is you might capitulate, but the players showed fortitude, fought back really well and we feel unlucky not to have got a result.

“The response from the group was good as we came away from home to a side on a really good run and dominated for long periods. Two mistakes don’t make a bad afternoon and we can live with the loss as the players couldn’t have put in any more.”

Killick will be hoping his team can get back to winning ways when local rivals Wimborne visit Tatnam tomorrow for a Dorset Senior Cup quarter-final tie.

“We really want to win the game,” added Killick. “Although we will look to give players an opportunity that haven’t been playing regularly like Tom Rees, who will start in goal.

“Richard Gillespie will play some part, too, along with two or three of our under-18 side. I do want to find the right balance to progress but also to give respite to those players that have been regular starters for us up to now.

“Looking beyond the Wimborne game, the blank weekend means our next league game against Wealdstone on the 17th suddenly has an even greater emphasis for our season going forward.”

Dolphins: Hutchings, Cooper (Gillespie, 70), Case, Spetch, Whisken, Pettefer (Moore, 87), Burbidge, Devlin, Roberts, Brooks, Baggie. Unused subs: Gale, Rees (g/k).