POOLE Town boss Tom Killick admitted dropping goalkeeper Nick Hutchings had been “one of the most difficult decisions I have ever made in management”.

Hutchings was replaced by The Army’s first-choice stopper Luke Cairney as Dolphins opened their Southern League South points account with a 2-1 victory at Salisbury last night.

Cairney, a lance corporal in the Royal Engineers, pulled off two crucial saves as goals from new signings Sam Griffin and Franklyn Clarke earned Poole their first win of the season.

Hutchings, ever-present for the past three seasons and a key player in Poole’s Southern League title-winning campaign, was an unused substitute at the Raymond McEnhill Stadium.

Killick told the Daily Echo: “I just felt we needed to make a change. Hutch has been integral to our success for a number of years and it was one of the most difficult decisions I have ever had to make because he has served us so well.

“It is so black and white with goalkeepers, it is not like outfield players. I still think it will be dealt with game by game and we decided to make a change against Salisbury.

“I will sit down and have a conversation with Hutch but I hope it is not the end of the road because that would be the last thing I would want.”

Cairney, who was on Burnley’s books for 10 years, played in Wessex Premier with Andover Town last season before joining Thatcham in the summer, only to then sign for Poole this week.

The 26-year-old made a fine save to preserve Griffin’s 10th-minute opener before Salisbury were reduced to 10 men following an alleged headbutt by Kane O’Keefe on Steve Devlin.

Clarke added a second in first-half stoppage-time before Dan Fitchett halved the deficit with 14 minutes remaining and after Marvin Brooks had seen his penalty saved.

Cairney, who also represents the Combined Services, made another top-drawer save in injury-time as Poole bounced back following their opening day defeat by Hartley Wintney.

Killick said: “Luke made a couple of good saves at crucial times, including one at the end, but he didn’t have an awful lot to do apart from that. His distribution was good and he did very well for his debut.”

Discussing the sending off and penalty, Killick, who served the second of a three-match touchline ban, said: “It is easy for me to be positive about officials when, on the face of it, things went our way but the lad headbutted Devs and was sent off.

“Not even the worst referee we have ever had was going to make any other decision.

“The penalty was clear-cut as well. I am not saying those decisions were significant in terms of influencing the game but there was absolutely no doubt over both.

“If we had scored the penalty, we would have been 3-0 up and could have enjoyed the remainder of the game with some comfort. Missing it just meant it was a lot more difficult than it needed to be.”

Dolphins: Cairney, Alawode-Williams, Leslie-Smith, Spetch, Whisken, Moore, Griffin, Devlin, Clarke (Pettefer, 73), Brooks, Grange (Balmer, 80). Unused subs: Smeeton, Lowes, Hutchings (g/k).