BOSS Tom Killick was left to rue another “soft goal” as Poole Town relinquished control of their National South destiny.

Victory over high-flying Hampton & Richmond last night would have brought the Dolphins within touching distance of Hungerford in the battle to stay up.

But a sloppy goal in the opening five minutes was enough to consign them to a 13th home defeat of the league campaign.

Charlie Wassmer was given plenty of time and space to head home, sending the hosts closer towards a return to the Southern Premier.

Speaking to the Daily Echo, Killick said: “From our point of view, it was another soft goal. That was the thing that killed us.

“The performance wasn’t too bad, but it was a soft goal and, suddenly, that cost us the match.

"I thought Hampton were a very good side. In terms of their attacking play, it was probably one of the best away performances I had seen this year.

“Again, had we not conceded a sloppy goal and the game had been level going into the latter stages, then they were likely to commit a few more men forward. But it was the same old story, giving away a soft goal.”

Despite having the majority of the game to grab a much-needed equaliser, the closest the hosts came was through Steve Devlin in the first half – twice he had powerful drives well saved by Hampton goalkeeper Senny Dieng.

James Constable had a second-half goal disallowed but that was all the goalmouth action in a tight game, with the visitors content to sit back and hit Poole on the counter.

Defeat would only have dented Poole’s confidence further as the stark reality of their situation becomes even more apparent.

“The players lost confidence quite early on in the season – especially playing at home – and it has never really recovered,” added Killick.

“We have given it a go in the past couple of games but there has been a lot of hesitant, insipid performances.

"In my view, last season, we never blew away teams – we never played scintillating, attacking football.

“We defended well, stayed in games and ended up nicking a lot of games. And that’s what people forget – we ground out wins.

"We were relentless in our defending and that allowed us the opportunity to go up the other end and nick a goal. That is just not happening this season.”

Results elsewhere saw Whitehawk relegated, but Poole’s next opponents – Concord Rangers – hung on against doomed Bognor Regis, stretching the gap between them and the Dolphins to eight points.

The Dolphins travel to Canvey Island on Saturday (3pm) in a game they must win.

Poole: Hutchings, Lindsay (Balmer, h-t), Smeeton (Walker, 78), Spetch, Whisken, Pettefer (Gillespie, 60), Ofori-Williams, Devlin, Constable, Moore, Bentley. Unused subs: Leslie-Smith, Tierney (g/k).