POOLE Town manager Tom Killick revealed his delight after Michael Walker stepped up his recovery from a serious knee injury.

The influential centre-half underwent light fitness work before Dolphins’ 3-0 home defeat against Braintree Town on Saturday.

Walker has not played a minute of football for Poole since suffering knee ligament damage during the 3-2 defeat at Concord Rangers 12 months ago.

The defender was stretchered off having landed awkwardly following a seemingly innocuous clash with former Poole loan striker Jordan Chiedozie.

Having finally gone under the knife in the summer, Walker's wait for competitive football is expected to be over in the spring of next year.

While he will not rush the former Weymouth and Wimborne Town man into a return, boss Killick was delighted to see the defender on the mend.

He told the Daily Echo: “I still think it will be a little while to go for Walks but he is the sort of person who we would dearly love to have in and around it.

“On a personal level it’s lovely to see him out doing stuff and it’s lovely to have him with us.

“We could have done with him out on the pitch against Braintree, that’s for sure! The sooner he is back the better, as far as I’m concerned.

“It was great to see him on Saturday. Hopefully, he is feeling positive about things and, hopefully, we can welcome him back into the fold sooner rather than later.

“It would be great to see him back on the pitch, whether that is in February, March, April or whenever.

“It has to be done at his pace and we will welcome him back with open arms when he is ready.”

Dolphins are on Saturday due to make the trip to Hampton & Richmond Borough (3pm).

Currently eighth in National South, Hampton are in sparkling form with six victories in their past six games.

Poole are 18th in the league standings with 17 points from their opening 18 fixtures. But Killick insists his side are in a better place than earlier in the campaign.

“On Saturday, against one of the best sides in the league, I felt we were more than competitive when we had 11 men,” he added.

“I have belief in this group, a lot more belief than I had a few weeks ago.

“I feel we are capable of winning enough games – we have to try to put Saturday behind us and build for Hampton.”

Dolphins will be without Will Spetch through suspension after he was sent off against Braintree.

Poole will also hope Jack Dickson is fit after he withdrew late from the starting XI last Saturday through injury.

Dolphins: (from) Hutchings, Lindsay, Moore, Whisken, Pettefer, Bedford, Balmer, Devlin, Bentley, Brooks, Gillespie, Neale, Harfield, Rees, Dickson.